


It's Okay To Be Different, Cause Baby So Am I

by saibug1022



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Demigod AU, Demigod Deceit, Demigod Logan, Demigod Patton, Demigod Remus, Demigod Remy, Demigod Roman, Demigod Thomas Sanders, Demigod Virgil, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, M/M, Multi, Oracle of Delphi Emile, Prinxiety - Freeform, Rick Riordan Demigod Universe | Riordanverse, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr: sides-of-demigods, fics, logicality - Freeform, sanders sides au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 25
Words: 34,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22244872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saibug1022/pseuds/saibug1022
Summary: So basically I have a blog on Tumblr for a Sanders Sides Demigod Au (@sides-of-demigods) and I wanted to put all my writing in an easy to find/reach place. That's basically what this is. Any questions for the boys can be asked at that blog!
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders
Comments: 31
Kudos: 49





	1. Here We Go

Just to set some things up before we get into the information you need. I'm going to have multiple kinds of writing on here.  
Number one will be informational which will usually be just profiles and stuff like that.  
Number two are fics that I used to complete an arc on my blog which will be called, creatively, Arc Fics. The thing with these is, since the arcs were mostly carried out through asks, not all of the information you might need will be in the actual fic. When this happens I'm going to include any information missing or a summary of the arc until that point in the notes before the chapter.  
Third are Prompt Fics. I'll always include the actual prompt with the fic, so that's not an issue. The only thing with these is that they tend to jump around in the timeline, like a lot. So they'll just pop up in between fics. Sorry about that.  
Now, on with the show!


	2. Character Profiles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here's just about all the information you need to know about the main characters in the AU!

**ROMAN PRINCE (16)**

[Originally posted by evilmuffin](https://tmblr.co/ZO-eEm2Um-5YZ)

  * Son of Apollo, god of…let’s just say the arts, archery, and medicine.
  * Apollo? God of music? Theatre? The arts? And just all-around extraness?
  * Yeah, he’s the son of Apollo.
  * Roman is skilled with anything involving missile projectiles, from archery to basketball, and is a natural musician and actor.
  * He can charm people with his singing voice and, if he is focused enough and has the energy, can almost cast spells with songs. For instance, when he used it in the forest incident to lead him and Virgil out of the woods.
  * For weaponry, Roman is the only one with a magic weapon. Most often it’s a double-bladed sword, but it can be separated into two swords, used as a spear, or melded into one single sword.
  * Also, for some reason no one can explain, it’s made of Imperial Gold instead of Celestial Bronze, but there’s red detailing in the hilt and designs on the blades.
  * Of course, he also has a bow, he’s the son of Apollo, but his sword is his signature weapon.
  * His smile is like sunshine and he has ALL OF THE FRECKLES
  * He has Auburn hair and is the second shortest of the main four, much to his annoyance, though he’s still tall at 5’10 (177 cm)
  * His eyes are green and he’s the pretty boy of camp, giving all of the Aphrodite kids a run for their money.
  * Roman has been going to Camp Half-Blood for 10 years, ever since he was six.
  * Roman knew since he was brought to Camp Half-Blood for the first time for the summer by his mom when he was six because he was immediately claimed by Apollo.
  * His mom told him early on that he was a demigod but it wasn’t until the golden sun with its arrows for rays that he knew exactly who he was.
  * But knowing he was a demigod he became obsessed with the magic and fantasy of Greek mythology, and as a kid who had already heard so many fairy tales, he had…strong opinions on the gods.
  * And their children.
  * And that included his brother.
  * He’s getting better, especially since the forest incident, which resulted in him befriending and pining after Virgil.
  * He and Patton fangirl over Disney and dashing heroes and stuff such as that.
  * Him and Logan it’s all sass battles and such and they act like they hate each other but the entire camp knows that they'd die for each other in a heartbeat. You boys aren’t fooling anybody.



**LOGAN BRADFORD (17)**

[Originally posted by evilmuffin](https://tmblr.co/ZO-eEm2RsnLXX)

  * Son of Athena, goddess of wisdom
  * He’s??? So smart??? Like there’s Athena Cabin smart, and then there’s Logan smart. The dude is on a whole nother level.
  * When it comes to weapons Logan uses twin Landsknecht daggers, as they are weapons that require you to be precise and calculating. They aren’t really anything special, with navy blue hilts and Celestial Bronze blades, but that’s perfect for him.
  * Logan has black hair and blue eyes, and is the second tallest of the main four, at just over six feet. (182 cm)
  * Logan was the second most recent to arrive at Camp, arriving at 12 and having been at Camp for four years.
  * Logan took (surprise surprise) a much more logical standpoint on things than Roman.
  * He was from a long line of legacies. No one, even his father, knew he was a true son of Athena not just her legacy
  * So you can imagine his surprise when he got to camp and was properly claimed.
  * He adapted to this new development rather quickly and got on with his life, electing to, with the support of his family, to stay at camp year-round and visit his family once in a while, usually for holidays and such.
  * It was actually so that his friend and totally not crush Patton wouldn’t be lonely most of the year.
  * As a legacy, Logan dove into Greek Mythology similar to Roman, but rather than focus on the story elements Logan memorized as many stories, weapons, and monsters as he could.
  * He’s like a walking Mythapedia.
  * The counselor of Aphrodite, Valerie Torres-Rosario, once set him up with Patton as a sort of joke (but everyone at camp low-key shipped them) and Logan was so astonished.
  * How can anyone be so happy? And pretty? Wait pretty? Wait, shit, 404 error, Logan.exe has shut down.
  * Nowadays…
  * Well, can you say POWER COUPLE?
  * Battle couple, leader couple, just all around the most badass couple at camp that literally everyone loves.
  * Random fact: Logan has a southern drawl that he often dials down, worried it’ll cause people to not take him seriously. But sometimes he lets it out with Patton, and yes it makes the poor boy melt.



**PATTON HAILEY (16)**

[Originally posted by evilmuffin](https://tmblr.co/ZO-eEm2Ow1owL)

  * Son of Hebe, goddess of youth
  * Patton is kind of the definition of “looks like a cinnamon roll, and is a cinnamon roll” but when it comes to his abilities he’s probably the most powerful of the bunch.
  * He can manipulate age, sucking the youth out of people and monsters with only a touch. He can almost always control it, but he usually wears gloves anyway. No one actually knew the extent of this until Capture the Flag one day.
  * Logan ran afoul of an orthrus (a two-headed dog the size of a pony) and Patton without even thinking ripped off his gloves, holding on until the monster aged into dust.
  * He tends to not his powers much after that, so he instead studied with the Apollo cabin to be a healer and learned to use a slingshot and crossbow.
  * Also while not having a magic weapon per se, Patton does have a magic pouch with Celestial Bronze spheres for his slingshot that can hold way more than it seems. It’s not bottomless but it can hold way more than you’d think.
  * Patton, the poor baby, is the shortest of the group at 5’8”. (172 cm)
  * Patton and his brother were the second to arrive, Patton being 10 when he arrived at Camp, therefore being at Camp 6 years.
  * Patton also stays year-round with his younger brother Dennis but that’s because of a less happy reason.
  * See Hebe is a beautiful woman who Mr. Hailey fell in love with, but only for her beauty and they only had a one night stand. So he was not happy when a baby showed up at his door.
  * He got even worse when it happened again (although with a different goddess).
  * One day Patton took Dee and just left. Thankfully they were quickly found by a satyr, Talyn, who escorted them to camp.
  * They stayed in the Hermes cabin for quite a while, Dee even longer than Patton, before being claimed.
  * Patton fit in quite quickly with his cabin mates. The children of Hebe are “highly sociable, take pride in community service and happiness of others, enjoy parties and feasts, tend to maintain a youthful appearance throughout their lives, are known to be fast healers, and are very good at planning social activities and parties.
  * That sure sounds like Patton to me.
  * Obviously is the dad of the entire camp.
  * Him and Logan, though Logan won’t admit it, totally are mom and dad of CHB.
  * Random fact: Patton is next in line for the counselor of the Hebe cabin.



**VIRGIL CAMDEN (16)**

[Originally posted by cattonsanders](https://tmblr.co/Z9GgKk2dF6HQo)

  * Son of Phobos, god of fear
  * He can instill fear in people, as well as make them see their worst fears. He can look at someone and know what they're afraid at that moment and their worst fears. He can also sort of sense fear of all kinds, from nervousness to anxiety to terror.
  * Virgil has a sword made of stygian iron, with a hilt of onyx inlaid with amethysts.
  * Also, he’s the only one who had the sense to have a freaking shield. He doesn’t always use it, but it’s usually at least on his back if he’s going into combat. He also has a small hand crossbow, but he doesn’t always bring that with him.
  * Virge has brown hair, dyed purple, and actually tends to not wear much eye shadow since the sweat from training can make it run.
  * He also straightens his hair but has Hobbit hair that only the other three have seen because he’s kinda self-conscious about it, and each time was an accident.
  * Moving on from his hair, he’s got brown eyes, and while he doesn’t wear a lot of eyeshadow (think the much less intense eyeshadow from his first few appearances) he still tends to wear white foundation and such. Idk anything about makeup.
  * Virgil is actually the tallest at 6’3” (190 cm) but is often so slouched he seems to be as tall as Logan if not shorter.
  * Virgil arrived at camp at 13, the last to arrive, and he has been at Camp 3 years.
  * Virgil and his parents didn’t even know he was a demigod, not until a satyr named Joan showed up at his doorstep on his 13th birthday.
  * So he shows up to camp for the summers although when everything at home becomes too much he is known to stay at camp for a week or two.
  * His family situation is okay, but it’s pretty tense and that just overwhelms him sometimes.
  * He and Roman didn’t get along at first, Roman convinced he was the son of an “evil” god. Then the forest incident happened and Virgil released maybe Roman wasn’t the stuck up brat he seemed to be. They became friends and now Virgil is slowly falling in love. Curse those damn freckles.
  * He and Logan get along pretty well and tend to hang out when everyone at camp is being a little too much. When they just need some practicality.
  * Patton is his best friend ever, they’re totally bffs.
  * They’re like the most wholesome friendship ever and honestly, even before Roman became Virgil’s friend, people were starting to question if Virgil was really that bad, because if he was how could he befriend someone as precious as Patton?
  * Random fact: He somehow always manages to wear black and purple? He somehow even managed to get a hold of a black Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, something no one can explain considering they we’re all supposedly bright orange.



**DENNIS HAILEY (14)**

[Originally posted by evilmuffin](https://tmblr.co/ZO-eEm2Um_KDX)

  * Son of Apate, goddess of fraud, deceit, trickery, and lies.
  * Children of Apate aren’t known as being powerful in a flashy way. They can’t raise the dead, or summon hurricanes, or call lightning from the sky. Their powers are incredibly subtle.
  * Obviously, they can lie their way out of almost any situation, they can blend into crowds easily, they can sense weakness, motivation, and lies. They can twist people’s words around.
  * But just as some children have Aphrodite have charmspeak and some children of Hephaestus can control fire, certain children of Apate have another ability I’m calling Mimicry.
  * They can take on the form of another person to a level somewhere between an illusion and shapeshifting (meaning they can get stuff wrong), and mimic some speech patterns, quirks, and mannerisms. But not memories.
  * Dennis uses a rapier. The handle is black, but the area around the handle is gold (if you look up a rapier you’ll know what I mean). The blade itself is the usual celestial bronze. That’s his signature weapon but he’s also good with various knives and daggers, including throwing knives.
  * He has black hair like Logan, but his eyes are grey, and he has a nasty scar on the side of his face from when he and Patton were fighting a monster before Talyn found them.
  * He’s even shorter than Patton, but he’s also not done growing yet, so cut him some slack.
  * Okay, now the good stuff. You already read the gist of his back story with Patton, but once Patton got claimed their stories kind of separated.
  * See after Patton got claimed Dennis was still stuck in the Hermes cabin for a while. But while Patton was getting to know his other siblings, Dee was kinda left behind.
  * He took care of the rest of the distance when he was claimed by Apate.
  * It’s mostly one-sided hate because despite what Dennis has done, Patton just can’t bring himself to hate his brother. And, no matter what he tells people Dennis really just misses his big brother but feels betrayed and can’t risk that.
  * So instead he befriended a son of Eris, a boy also scorned by his brother (more on him soon). Although honestly, it’s more like Dennis is the one keeping the older boy even semi under control.
  * Other than that, Dennis is still the manipulative, lying, GOOD INTENTIONED snek we all know and love.
  * He still causes chaos, but he’s kind of true Neutral.
  * He’s like this because that’s how he came to believe was necessary for survival.
  * He was a child of the god of lies.
  * They wanted a snake?
  * He’d give them a snake.
  * But Patton won’t give up on Dee. So maybe, just maybe, Dennis won’t give up on himself either
  * Random fact: The one night (after Dennis was out of the infirmary for his injury) while the Hailey boys were still in the Hermes cabin, Patton and Dennis managed to sneak into the kitchen and Patton made chocolate chip cookies. Much to his annoyance, even to this day Dennis’s ambrosia and nectar tend to taste like those cookies.



**REMUS DUX (16)**

[Originally posted by anxiously-chill](https://tmblr.co/ZagdRY2j6V6TC)

  * Son of Eris, goddess of strife and discord
  * Remus is stronger in chaotic times, can create a golden apple that can cause people to fight over it, and cause fights between weaker-willed people.
  * His most powerful ability is a Strife Storm which causes things within it to break, change, or warp.
  * Remus uses a mace. Plot twist, right? He uses a sword more often than his signature weapon though.
  * The Mace is black with green designs on the handle. The head is celestial bronze, but Remus painted it black.
  * By the way, the following actually happened:
  * Thomas: What do you have?
  * Remus running wildly: A MACE!
  * Thomas: NO!
  * Roman: Oh my gods, why does he have a mace.
  * Remus has Auburn hair like Roman but has black eyes and dyed lime green streaks into his hair.
  * He and Roman are the exact same height, and this annoys the shit out of both of them.
  * So now the family stuff. It seems complicated but it’s really not, I swear.
  * So remember Roman’s mom? So she met Apollo and had Roman.
  * But on the exact same day as Roman, Remus appeared on the doorstep of Mr. Dux. He knew it was his child, based on the note from Eris. So yes, the two have the exact same birthday.
  * But THEN, like not even a year later, Ms. Prince and Mr. Dux met and soon, they got married.
  * Roman and Remus got along like real brothers and were the best of friends. Until they were six years old.
  * You may remember that six years old was the first summer the boys arrived at Camp Half-Blood.
  * Roman was claimed practically as soon as they crossed the border. Remus was claimed in a few weeks but during those weeks something…something happened to him.
  * He began to…change.
  * He began to become more chaotic, cruel, just plain old mean.
  * Roman was trying so hard to excuse this. Maybe his brother just missed their parents? Maybe if he spent more time with Remus than his cabin mates?
  * But then Remus was claimed, and Roman finally snapped, turning his back on his brother for good.
  * This was the last straw for Remus too.
  * The two finally decided, subconsciously and unanimously, that despite their parents' love for both of them, despite their marriage, despite their childhood, they were no longer brothers.
  * Both boys cried that night.
  * But now Remus channels his energy into destruction, pranks, and honestly horrible things.
  * Dennis is quite honestly the only thing keeping him from actually killing someone.
  * That orthux that attacked Logan? That was Remus.
  * The forest incident? Remus.
  * Random fact: Remus loves bananas, and of his favorite things to do is eat a banana and leave it on the floor of the dining pavilion right before the dinner rush and watch an unsuspecting demigod slip and fall.



**THOMAS SANDERS (20)**

[Originally posted by heyimaphander](https://tmblr.co/ZpFVMe2K5BceM)

  * Son of Iris, goddess of the rainbow
  * Okay, I know what you’re thinking, but I SWEAR this isn’t a gay joke. Honestly, it started that way but I did actual research and I decided to actually keep it.
  * Okay so children of Iris have good communication skills, are often nice and good at making friends, are creative, have good color coordination, and are good with animals. Sounding familiar yet? YUP, IT SOUNDS LIKE THOMAS FUCKING SANDERS.
  * Sorry, I’m just so excited this worked out so perfectly.
  * Anyway onto the next part: powers.
  * Thomathy over here has the power to generate and manipulate light and color, he can change the color of things with just a touch (people suspect he’s behind Virgil’s black Camp t-shirts), he can see the whole spectrum of light (thankfully he can turn this on and off), and because he’s special, he can summon rainbow wings that he can use to fly.
  * Thomas uses a bow and arrow. There isn’t much special about them. It’s a recurve bow that’s a magenta color, the feathers on his arrows are all different colors, the arrowheads are celestial bronze but there are celestial bronze bits on the ends of his bow just in case a monster decides to get up close and personal.
  * He has a short sword as well, but he prefers to use the bow.
  * Thomas looks the same as our Thomas: brown hair, brown eyes, 5’10” (177 cm), etc.
  * Thomas honestly has a pretty good family life, and actually has been known to bring campers home with him for a week or so if needed? His family is welcome at camp, people call Mama Sanders “mom” even more often than they do Logan, it’s pretty amazing.
  * As for demigod stuff, well Thomas was on watch for a while.
  * He was special for a child of Iris already (the wings ain’t normal), but his best friend and his protector (Joan obviously) could tell he had the potential to be a leader and a role model for all the kids at camp.
  * So at twelve, Thomas arrived at Camp Half-Blood for his first day at camp.
  * He wasn’t the best when it came to the physical attributes. He could fight, otherwise he’d be dead by now, but he wasn’t exactly gifted at it.
  * Yet somehow he was the counselor of the Iris cabin by the time he was 15?
  * He is just great at making friends. Even the Ares cabin likes him! He can actually talk them down!
  * No one understands it!
  * Literally, the only one he can’t control is Remus.
  * Soon, Dionysus was able to somehow cut a deal that got him out of being the camp director. That title went to Chiron and Thomas, at age 18, became the activities counselor, taking over Chiron’s now vacant spot.
  * Literally the entire camp cheered when this happened.
  * There wasn’t a single unhappy camper in sight.
  * Random Fact: Thomas’s eyes actually change color sometimes, like a holographic image. They’re usually brown, but campers swear they’ve seen them multiple other colors, even colors that shouldn’t be possible like red and purple.



**EMILE PICANI (20)**

[Originally posted by patchworkofstars](https://tmblr.co/ZqwRxa2afReWe)

  * Oracle of Delphi
  * The Oracle of Delphi is a mortal with the sight that Apollo blessed with the gift of prophecy, specifically making them the vessel of the spirit of Delphi.
  * I know, I know, plenty of problems with that, but we’ll get to those later I swear, just wanna get through the basic stuff.
  * Emile is influenced by the spirit of Delphi, giving him visions and occasionally possessing him to provide prophecies.
  * The visions can happen in dreams or when awake and are not always helpful. Sometimes they’re full-on visions, but often they’re symbolic or just short flashes or don’t make sense with no context.
  * So, you know how in the PJO books, Rachel Dare painted her visions? Emile writes them.
  * And not in an “Oh this is what happened” like he’s taking notes, he writes them like a story to get down every detail possible.
  * As for prophecies, well there’s a risk that every time he’s asked a question the spirit of Delphi will take control and give an entire freaking prophecy, but usually she only does that when the person actually needs a prophecy.
  * Sometimes it will come completely unprompted though, he’ll just go into Prophecy Mode for like no reason and confuse everyone.
  * He doesn’t do a lot of fighting and prefers to talk his way through things, but he does have a dagger that Roman and Logan helped teach him to use just in case.
  * Emile has dirty blonde hair, so dark that sometimes it can pass as a really light brown.
  * His eyes are bright blue, but when he’s having a vision or giving a prophecy they’ll glow an eerie sickly green color.
  * As for height, he’s just taller than Patton but comfortable at 5'9" (175 cm).
  * Besides, his boyfriend is way taller, and he actually quite enjoys the height difference.
  * Since he doesn’t actually train with everyone, he isn’t as well built, but he can hold his own.
  * Sort of.
  * Now for the question I’m sure you’re asking: “Hey, Sara, why the fuck is Emile the Oracle of Delphi. She’s supposed to be a woman. Is your head broken?”
  * Well here’s the thing…he was.
  * That’s right y'all, Emile Picani is transgender.
  * He became the Oracle of Delphi and arrived at camp around 4 years ago when he was sixteen.
  * It wasn’t until a year later that he realized shit…he was a boy.
  * Cue internal freakout for a MULTITUDE of reasons.
  * He knew that only a woman was supposed to be the Oracle of Delphi, and without the spirit of Delphi he was just a random mortal who for some reason could see through the mist.
  * He wouldn’t be able to stay at Camp.
  * He didn’t want to do that!
  * He had friends, and he just loved Camp.
  * He and Remy had just said “I love you” a few months ago, and he’d already made arrangements with Chiron to take up permanent residence once he graduated high school.
  * Should he just deal with it? Should he really just risk all that just because he felt a little dysphoric every time someone called him Amelia?
  * Thankfully Remy noticed something was up and the two talked all through the night about what to do, names, and things like that.
  * Technically Remy was supposed to go back to his cabin, but Chiron let him stay.
  * The next day, during announcements at dinner, Emile went up and announced that he was a boy and that he’d be going by Emile now.
  * Almost the entire camp cheered.
  * Remy announced that anyone who had a problem with it would have to deal with him.
  * Suddenly everyone was clapping.
  * Apollo showed up a few days later to sort everything out.
  * Apparently, you were the Oracle of Delphi until death, so Emile got to stay at Camp and everything was perfect.
  * Back to his powers for a second.
  * His powers have an effect on his body.
  * When having a vision, Emile will stop whatever he’s doing or saying and just stand there, his eyes glowing.
  * Afterward, he’d feel lightheaded, dizzy, and dazed, which was where Remy came in.
  * Usually, Emile would stumble a bit and Remy would be there to catch him every single time without fail. He’d take the shorter boy somewhere to sit down for a minute while he recovered and Emile would write down what he saw.
  * As for prophecies, those were worse.
  * Emile wouldn’t be able to stand so Remy would grab one of the stools they keep at key places around camp just for this purpose and situate him on it.
  * Emile would seize up and speak in a voice that wasn’t his. Green smoke would seem to appear from nowhere and his eyes would glow.
  * Immediately afterward he’d completely pass out sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for hours.
  * Remy would immediately scoop him up and carry him to his room in the Big House and stay with him until he woke up.
  * Fun Fact: Emile is a permanent resident of Camp with a room in the Big House ever since he graduated high school. He is taking online classes for a Degree in Psychology in his free time



**REMY DORMIR (19)**

[Originally posted by patchworkofstars](https://tmblr.co/ZqwRxa2bL3_9R)

  * Son of Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty
  * Remy has very very basic charmspeak. He can do very basic commands and can really only give people a push.
  * But however, he is really good with illusions. Not magic in general like the Hecate kids, just illusions and especially glamors.
  * In his words, the Mist is his bitch.
  * Remy actually has two signature weapons, because why not? He never adhered to tradition before so why start now?
  * The first is a stave/staff that the now Head Counselor of Hecate Camden Foote made for him. Not only does it help him focus his spells and control it more but it gives him an extra reserve to draw from other than himself.
  * His second is a spear but with the way he uses it, it’s basically a pointy bo staff.
  * Literally, the only reason it has a spearhead is that you can’t kill monsters with a stick.
  * The staff is made of aspen wood with a black and silver grip, and the top resembles branches with a bright white light in the middle when Remy is using it.
  * The spear, however, is ebony with the usual celestial bronze spearhead and a simple black leather grip. Other than that, it’s not really anything special or extravagant.
  * Remy is a tall boi, he’s the same height as Logan, which means he’s six feet (182 cm)
  * His hair is jet black, like “holy crap how is it possible for hair to be that dark” black.
  * His eyes are gray but somehow they aren’t dull and instead intriguing
  * Emile is so lucky because his boyfriend is hot as hell
  * Okay moving on before I forget that I’m a lesbian today
  * Remy is one of those kids who literally had no idea he was a demigod but once he found out everything in his life suddenly made so much sense.
  * Like, for instance, the fact that girls were always all over him and people always seemed to want to hang out with him even though they had never met before.
  * He came to camp for his first summer at 11 years old, so about 8 years ago and the same year Thomas came to camp.
  * Since then he’s been coming every summer and switched to year-round literally like the second he graduated High School at 17.
  * No literally, like he changed out of his cap and gown and then drove to camp.
  * Then all of a sudden he was living there.
  * As for his family…
  * His family was stupid rich, and he still had full access to the money as long as he didn’t do anything stupid.
  * He and his dad weren’t estranged and they definitely cared about each other but they just weren’t that close, and Remy was even more distant from his stepdad.
  * No mortal siblings or friends, but Remy didn’t really need them either.
  * He and Emile met for the first time when Remy was on a quest. It wasn’t anything major, in fact, it was just him and Thomas hunting down a rogue monster.
  * The two cornered the thing in an alley and managed to kill it but not before Emile witnessed the whole thing.
  * And it wasn’t the boys beating up a homeless dude or something, like the Mist should have made Emile see, but he saw everything, from the monster to Remy’s staff.
  * Remy managed to calm the freaked out mortal and explained the situation as best he could.
  * The two kept in touch and when it was announced that a search would begin for a new host for the Oracle Remy knew exactly who to call.
  * The rest was history.
  * The weird thing for Remy was that he found himself with a crush on Emile, or Amelia at the time, which was beyond confusing because he could have sworn he was gay. But who knew, maybe he was homoflexible.
  * What he did know was that he REALLY liked Emile. He confessed this soon after Emile took on the spirit of the Oracle and the two started dating
  * Remy is scary.
  * When you meet him or talk to him he seems so laid-back and cool and friendly.
  * But anyone who’s ever seen him fight can tell you that he is NOT someone you should mess with.
  * The way he moves and fights and even does magic is so fluid and quick it seems effortless.
  * It’s not just physical though.
  * Maybe it’s because he’s a child of Aphrodite or maybe it’s just the way he is, but if he wanted to he could easily verbally eviscerate someone.
  * He has this uncanny ability to be able to tell what your flaws and insecurities and exactly how to exploit them.
  * And not to mention that he is like the DEFINITION of protective.
  * Basically, everyone is low-key scared of him and they should be.
  * Fun fact: Thanks to Remy literally always having Starbucks with him, there’s a rumor around camp hat Children of Aphrodite have the ability to summon Starbucks at any time. This obviously isn’t true but none of the Aphrodite kids are denying it. Honestly, half the time the Starbucks isn’t even real, it’s an illusion.




	3. Signature Weapons

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is just information about the boys' signature weapons, along with hand-drawn (rough) pictures of them by me!

**ROMAN PRINCE**

Alright, so first is Roman’s sword, in the form of a double-bladed sword which is what he’ll use most often and is his go-to. The blades are imperial gold, and the designs on the hilt are taken from his emblem, specifically the sun and castle. Now the sword is obvious, Roman already has one. But why a double-bladed sword and furthermore why not a katana? Well, it’s one thing to have more modern weapons at Camp like shotguns and such, but most of the weapons have Greek roots. And a katana is such a traditional Japanese weapon that unless another camper brought it to camp it didn’t seem to make much sense for it to be here. As for this version of the sword, have you ever seen someone use one of these swords? The way you have to move and be simultaneously instinctual and aware of your surroundings/in control really reminds me of Roman.

**LOGAN BRADFORD**

Next is one of Logan’s twin Landsknecht daggers and its sheath. The dagger is simple and elegant, requiring precision and cunning, a weapon that I believe to be perfect for Logan (that also lets him be the BAMF he is).

**PATTON HAILEY**

Third, we have Patton’s slingshot. One thing I wanted to do going into this was to incorporate the Sides as they are in canon (mostly things such as color scheme) into their weapons as much as possible. I couldn’t do it in their outfits since they were all mostly wearing CHB shirts, especially during the summer when most of these fics and scenarios will be set. So I felt using Patton’s signature light blue for the string and then a lighter wood for the base made sense. Also, a more rustic style for the slingshot seemed to fit Patton.

**VIRGIL CAMDEN**

Finally we can end the core four with Virgil’s sword. I know it’s WAY more detailed than the others but I just had SO MANY IDEAS. Also, I feel like it makes sense? I feel like Virgil is the most dedicated to an aesthetic for lack of a better phrase, so I feel like it makes sense for a sword that shows this off. This sword and his shield, while not magical (to Virgil’s relief), are gifts from his father, part of the reason it’s so extravagant. Also, side note, Virgil doesn’t know this, but they are slightly enchanted. Virgil’s sword is always as sharp as he needs it to be (it could cut through stone if needed) and the shield is practically Captain America’s shield. Anyway on to the actual sword. Yes, it is based on Riptide in the movies, but, again, I thought that with some design changes the style fit Virgil. The blade is stygian iron and the hilt is black. The blade is also wrapped in black leather with amethysts ingrained in it. Virgil’s emblem is carved into the blade, but it isn’t just because of Virgil’s emblem. The storm, as you can see engraved into the crossguard is called **θύελλα** or Thýella, which in English translates to Tempest. Finally, I know people are probably wondering why Virgil doesn’t use ranged weapons, as it seems he’d want to stay away from the fight. I disagree as Virgil, I think, is the protector. I wanted to symbolize that with him having a shield, and unless he’s suddenly Captain America, a shield didn’t seem like a good weapon, and pairing a shield with a ranged weapon seemed weird. Plus he and Roman are so different yet they are so similar, and this is an example of that too. Sorry for the long paragraph, I just had so much fun with Virgil’s weapon.

**DENNIS HAILEY**

  
  
  


Finally, we move onto Thomas and the Dark Sides (that sounds like the name of Thomas’s “edgy” college band), beginning with Deceit/Dennis. Dennis’s primary weapon is a rapier. It is a sword yes, but rather than the more inelegant slashing and swinging of a regular sword, especially a Greek sword, a rapier is used for more thrusting and stabbing. I feel as though this is most likely Deceit’s fighting style if he….ya know….had to fight. His alternate weapons are throwing knives, a weapon often regarded for its difficulty to use accurately and thus the ability to take an enemy by surprise. And catching people off guard is like the title of Deceit’s autobiography. Another little detail that was really cool to me was the frame around the handle, which often looks similar to snakes, hence why they’re yellow.

**REMUS DUX**

After the snake, we have the trash goblin himself, Remus. Because I just couldn’t resist the temptation, Remus uses a mace. But the mace he uses in Dealing With Intrusive Thoughts has a much more medieval style than the Greek maces more likely to be at Camp Half-Blood. So a quick redesign and BOOM, Remus’s mace. Also yes, the head of the mace is celestial bronze, or else it would be completely useless against monsters. Remus is just totally extra and literally took the time to paint his mace black and lime green because of Aesthetic.

**THOMAS SANDERS**

  
  
  


Finally, we have Thomas. I….honestly have no rational explanation for this. It’s literally just a vibe I get from him. In addition, Thomas in this au does have the ability to summon wings, and the weapon most useful from this vantage point would be a bow and arrow. But Thomas has, no pun intended, too much of a colorful and fun personality for some boring bow and arrow. And I seriously feel like the color that I and most of the fandom associate with Thomas is pink or magenta. Since the colors went together I figured, why the heck shouldn't I do both? Then the arrows themselves. Celestial bronze arrowheads, so they’re not very unique in comparison to most other arrows at Camp. But Thomas is just so unique and so much his own person that it didn’t feel right. So, what part of arrows is most commonly colorful? The feathers!

So that’s it for their signature weapons. Remember that everyone trains with all weapons so they’re not horrific with other weapons, but these are the best and personal weapons of the boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for information. Time for the fun part.


	4. Prompt: “Give me one good reason why I should trust you.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set years ago when Patton first uses his powers to their full extent, we see what Logan does when he finds out Patton has been lying to him for years.

“Please, Logan just-”

“I cannot believe you, Patton!” Logan exclaimed. Gods he couldn’t remember the last time he had been this frustrated.

“I messed up, I know that now,” Patton said. He looked close to tears and Logan felt a twinge of regret for his confrontational attitude. But this was something that had to be said, no matter how much he wanted to avoid it. “If you want, then I can promise to never use my powers again. Please, I just want to make this right.”

“Is that really what you think this is about?” Logan asked in disbelief. He turned and walked a few paces away to the other side of the living room in the Big House. He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. “You think I’m angry because you have powers?”

“I thought it was because of how strong they are and how…how dangerous.” The last part had Patton’s voice quieting in shame. “I swear I didn’t know how powerful they were until then.”

You see, Patton had just saved Logan’s life. A game of Capture the Flag had just ended and everyone was heading out of the woods, Logan and Patton lagging a little behind. Then an orthus (a two-headed dog the size of a pony) had sprung from the shadows and tackled Logan to the ground. Logan’s hands had been busy keeping the heads from biting him, and he couldn’t get to his dagger. Suddenly the beast seemed to wrinkle and age in seconds before it was nothing but dust, a wide-eyed Patton standing behind it with his glove off and hand outstretched to where the beast had just been.

“Patton I don’t care about your abilities.” Logan spun around to glare at him. “Those you’ve managed to control this whole time. You lied to me for years. Even after we started dating you hid this huge part of yourself from me!”

“Logan I swear it isn’t like that,” Patton promised hastily. He took a step towards Logan but the son of Athena held a hand out and Patton stopped in his tracks. That seemed to be the final straw as a tear managed to escape his eye and roll down his cheek. But he didn’t say anything or attempt to get closer to Logan, just waiting for him to say what he needed to stay.

“Give me one good reason why I should trust you,” Logan said. He tried to keep his voice level and monotonous, but he heard his voice crack with emotion. He hated this just as much as Patton did, but they couldn’t just go on with their relationship or maybe even their friendship without having this…conversation. Patton made a half-choked sob at his words like he tried to hold it back but couldn’t quite manage it.

“Because I love you, Lo-Lo,” Patton whispered, so softly Logan could barely make it out. But he did and the words made his breath catch in his throat. Patton…loved him?

“Then why did you lie?!” Logan cried. Even his voice was trembling and growing in pitch as he tried to hold back his tears. Because damn it, he loved Patton too, that was why it hurt so much to find out he’d lied for so long. But to find out Patton had loved him back and yet continued to deceive him made it worse.

“At first it was because I didn’t want to scare you,” Patton answered before hesitating.

“And after?” Logan demanded.

“It was just easier to hide the truth,” Patton admitted, handing his head.

“Were you ever planning on telling me if you could get away with it?”

The desperate look on Patton’s face and his silence told Logan all he needed to know. Of course not. He couldn’t believe Patton dared to say he loved him. What was love without trust? Or respect? A sob managed to wrench its way out of his throat. Logan seldom cried, no matter how upset he got. Normally it just some problem or obstacle he could solve or overcome but this was something different. By the horrified look on Patton’s face at the sound, it could be assumed that Patton knew that too Logan found that he couldn’t think of anything else to say, nor did he have any desire to stay here. He glanced back at Patton’s tear-streaked face only once more before he fled into the night.


	5. The Forest Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The infamous Forest Incident. How does one moment turn two rivals into, dare I say it, friends?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Cursing, blood mention, fighting, injuries, scorpions, infirmary/hospital.

  * Virgil had just wanted to hang out with Patton and lay there with his headphones on while Patton made flower crowns and such.
  * But nooooooo.
  * Instead, Thomas had sent a fellow son of Phobos, Virgil’s little brother Skylar, to find Virgil and tell him to head to the Rec Room. AKA the War Room.
  * Virgil walks in and sits next to Patton. Logan is across from Patton and next walks in…Roman Prince?
  * You see, Roman and Virgil did not have the greatest relationship at this point. You know the boys as friends, and maybe on their way to becoming something more. But that’s when they are 16.
  * This is 2 years ago, with the boys at 14 years old.
  * And they hate each other.
  * Roman thinks that Virgil is bad because his father is an “evil’ god, but tolerates him for Patton’s sake.
  * Meanwhile, Virgil thinks Roman is a stuck-up, entitled, judgemental asshole.
  * So Virgil was not happy when His Highness walked in, but whatever, he’d see what Thomas wanted.
  * Thomas came in just as Roman sat next to Logan and therefore across from Virgil.
  * The son of Iris’s face was unusually grave, silencing whatever remark Roman had been opening his mouth to make.
  * “I don’t know about the others but I was pulled directly out of training for this,” Logan spoke up. “You know this considering you organized the training schedules yourself. And, what with how adamant you are we be prepared for anything, I know you wouldn’t have done that unless this was important. So tell us, Thomas, what is this about?”
  * Thomas sighed and ran his hand through his hair. Virgil could tell now how stressed Thomas seemed. He had dark circles under his eyes from lost sleep, and he wasn’t even trying to be his chipper self.
  * “Well, campers have been hearing sounds coming from the general direction of the Eris cabin,” Thomas began, sitting at the head of the table. “Me, Chiron, and the counselors didn’t really think anything of it because, well, there are always sounds coming from over there. And then they stopped, so it didn’t look like it needed to be a concern.”
  * Virgil knew the sounds he was talking about, as his cabin was in the same area. Intentionally or not, when they added the cabins for the gods who weren’t exactly…well-loved, they all ended up in one area. Hades, Nemesis, Apate, Phobos, Eris, etc.
  * But this time it seemed like there was a lot more clattering and something almost like scuttling. Virgil had just assumed that a Hades kid had summoned a few skeletons for something, but now he wasn’t so sure.
  * “I get the feeling something changed?” Roman said.
  * “The noises started up again, but this time from the forest,” Thomas told the group.
  * “Wait, is that why Capture the Flag has been canceled the last few weeks?” Virgil asked. Thomas nodded.
  * “You all remember that kid who was attacked by a monster in the last round of Capture the Flag?” Thomas waited for their various forms of agreement before continuing. “Thanks to them, we figured out that those sounds were coming from a monster, and that monster had been released into the woods, attacking that camper when they came across it.”
  * “I’m starting to get kind of worried about where we fit into this,” Virgil muttered, slumping a bit more in his chair.
  * “I want you guys to go find and kill it, or them,” Thomas put his hands up in surrender with a sigh. “I know, but you four are our best, and you are handpicked based on how you work together, your powers, and your skills.”
  * “Logan you’re the best strategist at camp and know more about various monsters and myths than anyone else.”
  * “Roman your sword gives you access to multiple weapons and you’re an expert with all of them.”
  * “Patton your powers are a good fail-safe obviously, but your skills as a healer are what I’m really looking for here.”
  * “And Virgil, if you get overwhelmed your powers can drive things away or keep other monsters from attacking you, not to mention you are just as good a fighter as Roman.”
  * “You know Thomas, I can’t help but notice,” Patton hesitates, but continues on with a nudge from Virgil. “You kinda seem like you’re glossing over what exactly these monsters are?”
  * “Guilty as charged,” Thomas admitted. “The monster you’ll be fighting is a herd of serkets.”
  * “Wait, WHAT?” Roman exclaimed, leaping to his feet. “And you’re only sending four of us?”
  * “Kinda impressed you even knew what that was, Fault Disney,” Virgil snickered.
  * “I’ll have you know, Tall Dark and Gruesome,” Roman whirled to face Virgil. “That I may not be a nerd, but I have read my fair share of mythology. I have been here since I was six years old, and am very passionate about being a hero. That involves more than just swinging a sword around like a brainless troll!”
  * Virgil blinked in surprise. He had expected a snide comment, not full-on anger. It felt wrong. Thankfully, Patton stepped in before things could escalate.
  * “Boys, let’s all calm down,” Patton suggested before turning to Logan. “Loganberry, do you mind filling in me and Virgil on what exactly a circuit is?”
  * “Ser-ket, dear,” Logan corrected him before clearing his throat. “The serket is an extremely large scorpion, the smallest being the size of a human.”
  * “They have tough armor that isn’t impenetrable but still harder to get through.”
  * “Not to mention the pincers that are sharp and strong enough to snap you in half.”
  * “But most worrisome is the tail. It’s fast and strong and the stinger at the top is razor-sharp. Even worse is that the poison, according to my calculations, that the poison from the stinger’s first strike has a 96% fatality rate. After a first strike, the poison is gone, but the stinger is still deadly.”
  * Virgil was NOT ready for this.
  * “And of course the fact that they often travel in herds,” Logan pointed out.
  * “Of course they do,” Virgil sighed, letting his forehead hit the table and he just sat there. “I don’t suppose we have any sort of plan?”
  * “Actually, you do,” Thomas jumped back into the conversation. “Also you all are going to hate this, but hear me out, okay? You’re going to split up.”
  * “WHAT?” Patton exclaimed. “All this stuff that could kill us and your sending only one medic, and then splitting us up?”
  * “I know Patton, and believe me I wouldn’t do this if there was any other choice,” Thomas said, trying desperately to placate the son of Hebe. “But we have no idea where they could be, and we need to take care of these as soon as possible. For all we know, they could decide to attack the camp while we’re unprepared. That would be a massacre.”
  * Patton took a breath. He did not seem satisfied but he pulled forward anyway.
  * “Fine, alright, what are the teams?” Patton relented.
  * Virgil already had his expectations. Roman got along best with Patton, and Virgil and Logan got along well. It made sense to him.
  * “Logan and Patton, you’ll be in the west woods,” Thomas sighed, almost as if preparing for a fight. “The east will be Roman and Virgil.”
  * The room was silent.
  * Too silent.
  * Like all five men were holding their breath.
  * And then….
  * “HIM?!” Virgil and Roman exclaimed in unison, glaring at each other.
  * Thomas had been ready for this though.
  * “Yes, you two. I thought this through too. You too are the best fighters of the group. So with the two of you together you’re less likely to need a medic. No offense, Logan.”
  * “None taken.”
  * “Besides those are the teams that work well together. Logan and Patton are practically soulmates so that’s obvious. Plus a melee and ranged fighter is strategy 101.”
  * Roman scoffs. “And what, now you’re going to say that Jack Smellington and I are soulmates too?”
  * Thomas smiled innocently. “No. But don’t you two train together, just the two of you, three times a week? If anyone would know each other’s strengths, weaknesses and style wouldn’t it be you two?”
  * “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Roman Prince speechless before,” Logan commented, smirking at the expressions on the two boys. They looked like they had just gotten smacked in the face. “It is a moment I will truly savor.”
  * “If that’s everything I think you guys should head back to your cabins,” Thomas suggested, standing from his chair. “You’ll want to get ready tonight. You leave at dawn.”
  * Virgil shared one last look with Patton before leaving the room in a huff.
  * Damn it, why did he have to work with Roman Prince of all people? He would have preferred Dennis and he was like 12.
  * Okay maybe not really, because something about that kid really unnerved Virgil and made him really uncomfortable.
  * But still!
  * And worse, what Thomas said actually made sense.
  * Plus, as annoying as it was when Roman rubbed it in his face, out of the four of them Virgil had been there the shortest amount of time while Roman had been there the longest.
  * Roman would know the woods way better than Virgil did, and without him, Virgil would probably get lost.
  * And getting lost in the woods is a BAD idea.
  * Virgil begrudgingly got together everything he assumed he’d need: A baggie of ambrosia, water, a couple of protein bars because who knew how long they’d be out there.
  * He didn’t have a full medkit and certainly wasn’t a healer but all campers, especially older ones, had basic First Aid training, so he had bandages and rubbing alcohol, cleaning gauze, tweezers, and medical tape inside a small First Aid kit.
  * His sword and shield of course.
  * He debated on bringing his headphones, but eventually decided against it. As nice as it would be to muffle Princey’s voice, he needed to be aware of his surroundings.
  * He still hesitated because the comforting weight of them could help with his anxiety, but overall his anxiety would help him be aware and observant, plus he was pretty sure it made his reflexes faster.
  * The rest of the day passed in a blur. Virgil sat with Skylar and Heather at Dinner, sacrificed some of his meal to Phobos, sat with Logan and Patton at the bonfire and didn’t participate in the sing-along. The usual.
  * But he kept shooting glances at Roman Prince. He wasn’t sure why, but he told himself it was to see how Roman was reacting to the arrangement.
  * But as far as he could tell, the auburn-haired boy didn’t really seem fazed. He was singing, laughing, and talking with his siblings as usual.
  * Virgil wasn’t sure what to make of that.
  * Then, it was the next morning.
  * Virgil got dressed as quietly as he could as to not wake his siblings. He left a note saying he was running an errand for Thomas with Patton, Logan, and Roman so they wouldn’t worry but didn’t say what the mission was.
  * He shouldered his backpack and made sure his sword was in its sheath.
  * He grabbed his shield but didn’t secure it on his arm yet, as dealing with the shield would be a hassle, and left the cabin.
  * As he emerged he caught a glimpse of the slightly rosy sky over the trees before he turned away and was on his way to meet the others.
  * Everyone else was already waiting for him on the porch of the Big House, which Virgil was expecting since their cabins were so much closer than his.
  * Well everyone except Logan, who was probably double and triple-checking he had everything.
  * His first step onto the deck and he could feel nerves coming from all around him.
  * Thomas was fidgeting while staring at the woods, although Virgil suspected he wasn’t really seeing them.
  * Patton kept taking stock of his pretty large medkit over and over and picking stuff up and messing with it before putting it back.
  * Roman seemed relaxed, leaning back in a deck chair with his eyes closed and his double sword across his lap, but Virgil knew better.
  * Roman was just as afraid as the rest of them, Virgil could literally sense it. In fact, he might have been more anxious.
  * As tempting as it was to call him out, Virgil sat next to Patton and bumped their shoulders.
  * “Pat it’s all going to be okay,” Virgil promised, blocking the kit next time Patton tried to reach into it. “You have everything you need, and if anything happens it’s nothing you can’t handle, alright?”
  * Patton’s breathing was still a little shaky but he took a deep breath and finally closed his medkit.
  * “Yeah, yeah you’re right,” Patton agreed. “We’ve got this. I’ve got this.”
  * They were interrupted by Logan’s arrival, and everyone seemed to switch to battle mode.
  * Roman stood and strapped his sword to his back, Patton and Virgil stood up and Thomas seemed to snap out of his daze.
  * Thomas turned to face them, eyes hard and prepared.
  * “Alright, look,” Thomas said. “I know you’re all probably worried, but I wouldn’t have picked you four if I didn’t think you could do it. But, you put yourselves and each other first, you hear me? The mission comes second. If you get overwhelmed, get out of there, don’t get yourselves killed trying to kill the things. And don’t try to stay out all night searching. If you don’t find them, we can try again tomorrow. Meet back here at sunset at the latest, alright?”
  * The boys nodded, no one saying anything. But really, what else was there to say?
  * They said their goodbyes to Thomas and walked as a group towards the woods, knowing that once they reached the woods they’d be splitting up.
  * It was finally fully sinking in for Virgil that he might not be leaving these woods. At least not alive.
  * He was so deep in his thoughts that he barely had time to register that they’d reached the woods when he suddenly had Patton wrapped around him, hugging him tightly.
  * Virgil hugged him back almost instinctively. He was very used to Patton’s spontaneous hugs.
  * This time though, Patton clung to him a little longer than usual and a bit tighter. More desperately.
  * “Stay safe out there kiddo, alright?” Patton begged him. Virgil squeezed him tighter in response. He couldn’t bring himself to speak because, well he couldn’t promise anything. Patton seemed to understand because he sighed before seizing Roman in a hug.
  * Virgil stood next to Logan and crossed his arms.
  * “Take care of each other in there, Professor.”
  * Logan, who had been watching Patton talk to Roman turned to face the son of Phobos.
  * “Don’t we always?” Logan pointed out, a small smile on his face. “The same to you and Roman. I know he isn’t your favorite person, but give him a shot. Roman Prince is full of surprises.”
  * And with that, Patton came back over and Virgil walked over to Roman. Then, they entered the woods.
  * They had been in the woods for a few hours and Virgil was really missing his headphones.
  * They had been in the woods for a couple of hours before they found a bunch of broken and scratched up trees near some giant tracks with a large scrape in the middle, like something a tail would leave behind.
  * The tracks were their best bet so they followed them, and had been for a while.
  * It hadn’t been too bad at first, but now Roman just would not shut up.
  * Virgil did his best to just keep walking but Roman kept trying to tempt him into a conversation.
  * “And then-” Roman was telling some story his counselor told him about this son of Poseidon or something who apparently saved the world a few times or whatever, but Virgil had stopped paying attention a while ago.
  * “For the love of Zeus will you SHUT UP?” Virgil finally snapped, interrupting Roman. “Look, Your Majesty, I don’t know about you but I’m trying to actually find these things. But I wouldn’t have any idea if we were close since I can’t hear anything except your stupid voice! Not to mention that the serkets aren’t the only things in these damn woods. Anything could come up behind us and kills us before we even knew it was there!”
  * “Alright, geez Hot Topic,” Roman rolled his eyes, which if anything only infuriated him more. It took everything Virgil had to keep walking. “Just trying to lighten the mood a little. Not everything has to be as dark and gloomy as you all the time.”
  * “Oh so suddenly this is about me?” Virgil retorted.
  * “Well duh,” Roman said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re the one who snapped at me. Although I really shouldn’t be surprised, considering.”
  * “What the HELL is-” Virgil started before Roman slammed his hand over Virgil’s mouth, using his other hand to grab Virgil’s shirt and stop him from walking.
  * Virgil was about to go OFF before Roman spoke.
  * “Virgil,” Roman was suddenly deadly serious, his voice barely above a whisper, and the fact that he used Virgil’s actual name instead of some nickname threw him for a second. “Shut up, just shut up, and look.”
  * Roman let go of Virgil’s shirt to point, and Virgil shoved his hand away from his face. He looked where Roman was pointing, expecting something stupid or to see nothing and for Roman to just be trying to distract him.
  * He saw nothing, and that’s what caused a chill down his spine.
  * “The tracks stopped,” Virgil breathed out, his hand going to grip the hilt of his sword. “Wait, hold up. Listen.”
  * Everything was absolutely silent. It was one of those things you don’t really notice, but the forest was always making noise, whether it be the nymphs, birds, or various animals. But it was completely silent now.
  * Virgil saw it too late.
  * He turned towards Roman, mouth open to ask if he heard anything when he saw the serket, claws poised to attack.
  * He was too slow in reacting, and the serket was already moving by the time he shouted Roman’s name in alarm.
  * The other boy turned around and managed to jump back but he didn’t have time to get far and the serket managed to slash his chest.
  * He staggered backward into Virgil, who managed to catch him and throw them both to the ground in time for the scorpion’s stinger to strike the ground where they had both just been standing.
  * He helped Roman to his feet, who shook his head for a second as if dazed but managed to pull his sword off his back.
  * Virgil did the same and barely had time to get into a defensive stance before the serket had prepped its tail again.
  * The boys both dived in opposite directions, the stinger missing them once again. After a split second the serket apparently made a decision and charged at Virgil.
  * Virgil had a split-second where he realized that he had never properly secured his shield and that it was currently laying on the ground out of his reach before the scorpion hit him, sending him flying backward.
  * He hit the ground and the scorpion was on top of him, ready to sting him. He raised his arms instinctively before he heard someone shout “VIRGIL!”
  * He looked over to see Roman throw Virgil’s shield to him. He caught it as the serket thrust its tail down towards him and managed to hold it above him just in time for the point to bounce off it harmlessly.
  * He slammed the shield into its face, causing it to screech in rage and stagger back, allowing Virgil to scramble out from under it.
  * The serket switched gears and ran at Roman who despite the large gash in his chest was actually upright and moving, a feat Virgil suspected was the result of adrenaline.
  * It reared up to stab him with its pincers but Roman let out a loud grunt and kicked the scorpion towards Virgil.
  * Virgil in turn sliced off the scorpion’s stinger before shoving back at Roman with his shield.
  * Roman used the serket’s momentum to his advantage, letting it impale itself on his sword.
  * The creature made an ear-splitting screech and turned to golden dust.
  * The boys allowed themselves the chance to look around and, when spotting no more signs of a serket, stumbled towards each other and collapsed onto the ground next to each other.
  * Both were breathing heavily and clutching various parts of their bodies.
  * “You…look like shit,” Roman admitted helpfully between shallow breaths, and Virgil huffed a laugh.
  * To be fair, he was probably right. Virgil felt plenty of scratches and bruises all over his body from when the serket rammed him, and he was pretty he had at the very least fractured a few ribs.
  * The force from the stinger had shocked him, and his arm was SORE. It was a miracle it wasn’t broken.
  * But he got his first real look at Roman when he heard his body fall to the ground next to him.
  * His shirt was absolutely soaked in blood, the dark red a jarring contrast to the usual bright orange.
  * He was so pale and his breathing was short and shallow. Virgil had to do a double-take.
  * But then he moved to the son of Apollo’s side, waving his hand in front of the other boy’s face, smacking him lightly, shaking him. His eyes wouldn’t open.
  * “ROMAN!”
  * Virgil muttered an apology and fully slapped the boy across the face and desperately shouted his name again.
  * Finally, Roman slowly opened his eyes and Virgil let out a little laugh of relief.
  * “Did…did you slap me?” Roman questioned, his voice weak.
  * “Well you wouldn’t wake up,” Virgil said. “Didn’t leave me much choice.”
  * He dragged Roman over to the nearest tree and propped him against it, flinching when Roman launched into a coughing fit.
  * “Hold on, hold on I’ve uh…I’ve got some first aid stuff just hold on,” Virgil muttered, practically incomprehensible. 
  * Virgil tossed his sword and shield to the side so he could take off his backpack and rummage through it.
  * He ended up just taking everything but the protein bars out because he still wasn't sure exactly what he needed.
  * He was no Patton, but he was pretty sure he could buy enough time to find Patton or get back to camp. The only problem, they had been following the tracks, so Virgil actually wasn’t sure which way Camp was.
  * But that was definitely a problem for later. For now, he had to keep Roman from bleeding out in the middle of the woods.
  * “Okay, here eat this,” Virgil shoved a large square of ambrosia into Roman’s hand and made sure he was starting to eat it before he used his sword to cut open Roman’s shirt.
  * He had to get it off in order to actually treat the gash and there was no way Roman was taking it off anytime soon.
  * “You know,” Roman started before coughing again. “If you wanted to see…see me shirtless…you could have just said something.”
  * “Shut up idiot,” Virgil muttered. He opened the First Aid kit and began to use the cleaning gauze to wipe away as much of the blood as possible because at this point he couldn’t even see the cut.
  * Roman looked on the verge of passing it again, but Virgil remembered something about keeping the patient awake by talking or something.
  * “You saved my life you know,” Virgil ended up saying, inwardly cursing himself. “Throwing me my shield I mean. That was some quick thinking.”
  * “You’re welcome.” Roman tried to laugh but ended up coughing again and slumped against the tree. “You, you saved me too…you know.”
  * “I think all the blood suggests otherwise.”
  * “But after that you…you got me out of the way…that stinger… remember?”
  * “Yeah, I guess. Everything happened so fast.” Virgil wasn’t fully paying attention to the conversation. He had given up on the blood and reached for the rubbing alcohol, putting some on the leftover gauze. “I’ve gotta clean this out. It’s gonna hurt like a son of a bitch though, so try to just keep talking. Ready?”
  * Roman nodded and visibly braced himself, so Virgil pressed the gauze to the wound. Roman hissed loudly and his head fell back against the tree with a dull thunk. Virgil mumbled an apology under his breath. 
  * “Not to mention, ow ow ow, this,” Roman said, trying to follow Virgil’s advice and just distract himself.
  * “What on Gaia’s green earth are you talking about?” Virgil raised an eyebrow. 
  * “Nursing me…back to, ow, health or whatever. Maybe you’re…not an evil, ow, villain.”
  * “And why’s that?”
  * “Ah!”
  * “Sorry.”
  * “Well if you really wanted me…ya know…dead…this would be the, ow, perfect opportunity. Secret…secret mission in the…the woods…crazy monster….already hurt…”
  * “I think you’re in shock Princey.”
  * “M'not in shock…you’re in shock…. you’re so…so calm.”
  * Actually, if Virgil thought about it, the delirious demigod may be onto something. 
  * Usually, Virgil would be freaking the fuck out and definitely not treating a wound methodically and carefully and ESPECIALLY not since he himself was injured and exhausted, though the adrenaline coursing through his veins at the sight of Roman’s cut and the blood on his own hands was probably to thank for that.
  * “Okay done with that.” Virgil used the last scraps of gauze to get at least some of the blood off his hands before tossing it away. Usually, Patton would scold him for something like that but Virgil couldn’t bring himself to care about littering at the moment. 
  * He reached for the bandages instead and helped Roman sit up so he could wrap that bandages around his torso and occasionally his shoulder to help keep them in place.
  * He used on hand to hold up Roman and the other to wrap the bandages, alternating which hand was doing which as he went.
  * “Hey, Virge? I think…I think I’m gonna take a little nap now.”
  * “Like hell you are,” Virgil growled. “Don’t think I won’t slap you again.”
  * “That’s not nice,” Roman pouted. He was getting increasingly delirious from a combination of blood loss, exhaustion, and pain, and Virgil wasn’t sure how much longer he’d last. 
  * Virgil had skills limited to basic First Aid and it wasn’t professional quality either. If Roman didn’t get help quick, Virgil wasn’t sure he’d make it. He’d lost so much blood…
  * Plus Virgil would have to carry him back to camp and he had no idea which way that was. 
  * Worse still, he didn’t think his body could handle that. 
  * He was bruised and battered as well, he was pretty sure he’d at least crack a few ribs, and was running on nothing but adrenaline at this point. 
  * Virgil tucked the end of the bandage and secured it with medical tape, but that was about as far as his skills went. Now the other problem.
  * “We’ve gotta find Logan and Patton or figure out how to get you back to camp,” Virgil was mumbling again, searching fruitlessly through his bag as if a miracle would suddenly appear. In fact, he was actually praying to every god he knew that that exact thing would happen. Because he was out of options.
  * “I could…do a spell,” Roman suggested, his voice quieter and weaker than Virgil had ever heard. 
  * “No, no way,” Virgil argued immediately. “There’s no way you have enough energy for one of those.”
  * “I would if you gave me…gave more am..amber…ambrosia.”
  * “You are just a FACTORY for bad ideas right now, aren’t you? I already gave you a risky amount, any more and you’ll probably burn up!”
  * “I don’t think we have another choice.”
  * He was right of course. As much as Virgil hated it. If they did it Roman at least had a chance of survival, however slim. If they didn’t…well, Virgil didn’t see a scenario where Roman got out alive.
  * “Damn it.” Virgil cursed, begrudgingly taking the smallest square of ambrosia he could find. He held it up to Roman’s lips who obligingly ate it, understanding he needed to conserve as much energy as possible.
  * They waited a few seconds for it to kick in. Roman schooled his face into one of determination and began to run through songs in his head.
  * “Go for finding Logan and Patton. I don’t think I can carry back to camp,” Virgil suggested and sat against the tree next to Roman, their shoulders pressed together. He was exhausted but he still wanted to be close enough in case something happened.
  * He winced at the movement, his hand coming up to his ribs as he hissed in pain. Roman looked at him questioningly but Virgil rolled his hand to get him going. 
  * “Don’t make fun of me for the song alright? It’s the only thing I can think of.”
  * “No promises." 
  * "And I’ll probably pass out after this so-”
  * “Just get on with it Sir Sing-A-Lot.”
  * Roman took a breath and began to sing. Virgil had no clue what he was expecting, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t Gotta Find You from fucking Camp Rock.
  * “I need to try to get to where you are,” Roman sang. “Could it be you’re not that far. You’re the voice I hear inside my head, the reason that I’m singing. I need to find you, I gotta find you. You’re the missing piece I need, the song inside of me. I need to find you, I gotta find you.”
  * His voice got weaker and weaker as he sang, so much so that Virgil couldn't even hear it by the time Roman reached the end of the song.
  * Then Roman slumped over and Virgil caught him, propping him against the tree as best he could, but Roman still ended up leaning on him. 
  * Virgil looked around and began to panic, as it seemed like nothing has happened.
  * He blinked and there it was, a ball of light almost like fire just floating there. 
  * And then it zipped off through the woods, leaving a trail of light behind it. 
  * **A few seconds later:**
  * Logan and Patton had found the other two serkets and had managed to dispatch them. 
  * They weren’t unscathed, but since they had managed to take the serkets by surprise instead of the other way around, they were much better off than Roman and Virgil. 
  * Both were shocked when suddenly a ball of what looked like fire burst out of the trees and stopped in front of Patton then just…hovered there. 
  * The two shared a curious look, having a conversation without words. Eventually, Logan nodded and Drew his daggers as Patton turned to the ball.
  * Slowly he reached his hand out toward it, closing his eyes just before he made contact with it, preparing to be burned or worse. Instead, he heard some sort of shimmer and opened his eyes just in time to see the ball explode into an image of Virgil and Roman leaning against a tree. 
  * Roman had bandages wrapped around his torso that we’re already covered in blood and was pale as snow, Virgil was covered in scratches and bruises and seemed to be gingerly cradling his ribs. 
  * Patton gasped audibly at the image, his hand flying up to his mouth while Logan cursed under his breath. 
  * “Patton, look,” Logan said, pulling Patton’s gaze from the image in front of him and to the glittery trail leading into the woods that the ball had left behind.
  * The two looked at each other again.
  * “You don’t think…?” Patton trailed off.
  * “One of Roman’s spells,” Logan agreed with a firm nod. “He’s leading us to them.”
  * “We have to hurry!”
  * “Agreed.”
  * The two sprinted into the woods.
  * **A little while later:**
  * Virgil found himself drifting off as he waited for Logan and Patton.
  * Roman was out cold with his head on Virgil’s shoulder and Virgil was fighting off joining him.
  * The adrenaline was wearing off but if Virgil passed out that would leave both him and Roman at the mercy of whatever was in these gods forsaken woods.
  * Holy Phobos, where were those two? Virgil was tired and in pain and honestly just really wanted this day to be over.
  * But it left him with time to think and without his usual barriers.
  * He felt Roman’s hair against his face and his brain landed on the boy in question.
  * Virgil was convinced Roman was stuck in his ways, that he couldn’t care less about Virgil. That the only reason Roman tolerated him was because he was Patton’s best friend and no one can say no to Patton.
  * But then Roman saved his life. Multiple times actually.
  * Not to mention that teamwork they pulled off back there. Sure some of it could be credited to the two of them training together so much, but it had felt like they could practically read each other’s minds.
  * And Roman had been right when he said Virgil seemed a little too worried about his wellbeing for someone who hated him.
  * Virgil got the feeling that if they could get passed their own damned biases they could be a force to be reckoned with.
  * He heard a crashing in the woods and gripped his sword, pointing it in the direction the noises were coming from.
  * He couldn’t do much; when the adrenaline was dulling the pain he had assumed he had a few cracked ribs but now he was pretty sure those ribs were actually broken. But he’d be damned if he didn’t try.
  * It wasn’t until he saw two familiar bespectacled figures emerge from the trees that he let his sword clatter out of his grip and let out something that was probably supposed to be a laugh.
  * From then on everything was a blur. He remembered Logan picking up and carrying Roman.
  * At one point Patton was helping Virgil walk through the woods.
  * After that, he was pretty sure he’d passed out for good.
  * When he woke up it was to light above him and a bed beneath him that was simultaneously uncomfortable and comfortable.
  * He startled the second his eyes opened, his brain still in fighting mode, expecting to be face to face with some horrible creature that he’d have to fight to save Roman.
  * There were hands on his shoulders trying to push him back and he was already working to fight them when he heard his name and realized the hands belonged to Patton and Thomas.
  * He immediately regretted his little stunt and flopped back down with a groan, his ribs aching something horrible.
  * He began to actually examine his surroundings, and it didn’t take long for him to realize he was in the infirmary.
  * Thomas and Patton still had their hands on his shoulders and were ready to push him down again, while Logan was nowhere to be seen.
  * “Easy tiger,” Thomas said, his voice calm and reassuring. “You have two broken ribs and one more cracked and a hairline fracture in your wrist. And you had a pretty nasty concussion so I doubt that’s fully gone.”
  * “Roman,” Virgil slurred out. “Where’s Roman? Did he make it?”
  * “We got him out kiddo, don’t you worry,” Patton smiled but there was something strained to it. As Virgil’s world came into focus he noticed Patton’s face was red, his eyes were puffy, his voice sounded rough, and his cheeks were wet. He’d been crying. “I’m just glad you’re okay. You gave me quite a fright.”
  * “Sorry,” Virgil muttered. “The damn scorpion took us by surprise. I was too slow to get Roman.”
  * “Hey don’t blame yourself,” Those scolded him lightly. “You saved him. Without the treatment you gave him, Patton and Logan would have been too late.”
  * Like it was a cue, Logan walked in with another boy Virgil vaguely recognized but didn’t know the name of.
  * “Apologies for not being here Virgil,” Logan said, stopping at the foot of the bed. “With how you were reacting it seemed wise to fetch a healer. Besides, one would need to check you over once you were awake.”
  * “S'okay Logan,” Virgil said. “Hey, how long was I out?”
  * “Only a few hours,” The new kid spoke up, moving forward and placing a hand on Virgil’s forehead. He was cute to Virgil’s pain-addled brain, African-American with glasses and a slight accent that Virgil was not cultured enough to definitively place. Nigerian maybe? “You’ll be fine, you just took a really nasty blow to the head. Even with some nectar, you needed two stitches.”
  * “Sorry, who are you?”
  * “My name’s Chidi, I’m the lead healer this summer.”
  * “Oh yeah, I remember you now. Alright, Chidi. What about Roman?”
  * This time Chidi hefted a heavy sigh. “Roman is still out. I’m not going to sugar coat it for you guys, I don’t know when he’ll wake up. Or if he even will.”
  * There was a wet gasp from who Virgil assumed was Patton but his eyes had fallen to the bed next to him where he now saw Roman slumbering peacefully. He couldn’t look away.
  * His hands tightened into fists and he could barely feel his fingernails digging into the soft flesh of his palm.
  * He was too slow. No matter what This said it was his damn fault. He’d started the fight and distracted them both, allowing the serket to sneak up on them.
  * Worse, he had seen the damn thing but he hadn’t reacted quick enough. Now Roman might die or be stuck in a coma or something.
  * “I’m sorry, he’s just…he’s lost a lot of blood and the wound was dangerously deep. But he definitely has a chance and if I know my brother there’s no way he’s going to let himself go out like this. I’m sorry, excuse me.”
  * Virgil was officially discharged the next day, the ambrosia and nectar he’d been able to eat making quick work of his ribs. But he couldn’t bring himself to leave Roman, and evidently neither could Logan and Patton.
  * Thomas had to return to his duties though, he couldn’t let Chiron cover for him forever.
  * The three were even spending the night in the infirmary and the Apollo kids just didn’t have the heart to kick them out.
  * Roman would wake up, Chidi had been right about that, and everything would go back to how it was. But at the same time, it wouldn’t.
  * Virgil and Roman would still tease and insult each other but now without any malice or real intent.
  * They’d still train, but now it was as much to spend time together as it was to get better.
  * The boys had learned multiple lessons that day: for instance, they paid a heck of a lot more attention to what was going on around them.
  * They learned not to be so quick to judge people.
  * Most importantly, they gained perspective.
  * They gained friendship.
  * And maybe a little more.



**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if it feels a little disjointed in places, Tumblr forced me to cut this into 4 different parts when I posted it there and I had to adapt it. I tried to re-format it, but I'm not sure how I did.


	6. Prompt: “I swear, if you start singing.”

Roman and Virgil simultaneously seem like the most obvious yet most unlikely couple ever. They are so different at first glance, and at a second or third glance, but they managed to work so well together it almost didn’t make sense. Sure they bickered and fought and clashed practically every five minutes, but you could see how much they cared for each other plain as day. Of course, they were still two completely different people. But if there was one thing they could agree on it was their love of Disney movies.

Thankfully they both lived in New York, so while they didn’t see each other as often as they did over the summer, they still could get together over the school year. Every single weekend (where it was possible) Virgil and Roman would meet at Virgil’s apartment while his parents were working and pick a Disney movie to watch, usually at random because they just couldn’t decide. This week it was Aladdin.

They had elected to sit on the floor against the couch with a bowl of popcorn between them. The narration began and soon so did “Arabian Nights”. Virgil could practically feel Roman about to sing and shook his head. He’d probably never admit it, but normally he just loved Roman’s singing voice. The thing is, a new couple had moved into the apartment above his and he wasn’t sure how they would take the singing. He did not want to piss off his neighbors in the first week of them living there.

“I swear, if you start singing,” Virgil started, letting the threat lay open-ended. He actually heard Roman’s jaw click, he shut it so fast. He smirked and Roman stuck his tongue out at him, crossing his arms and pouting.

The rest of the movie was uneventful until the song. As soon as “A Whole New World” started playing Virgil knew there was no hope. Roman did too if his shit-eating grin was anything to go by.

“You know you can’t stop me,” Roman said. “So you might as well have a little fun and sing with me.”

Before Virgil could even respond Roman was belting out the lyrics; he even stood up and began to gesture to Virgil dramatically as if he was Jasmine and he rolled his eyes. Honestly, this is what he got for dating a theater kid. As Jasmine’s part approached Roman looked at Virgil pleadingly. Maybe stronger men could resist that look but Virgil was not one of them. He had to bring it down an octave to avoid sounding like a dying rat, but he did end up singing. He may be biased, but in his opinion Roman’s answering smile was worth any complaints the neighbors may have.


	7. Prompt: Dancing Till Dawn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton teaches Logan how to dance.

“Loganberry,” Patton called out, coming up behind Logan.

His brow furrowed as he observed Logan rather than just looking at him. It was weird enough he’d be sitting at the dining pavilion alone after curfew, but he seemed tense, and his head was in his hands. Even more so, he and Patton had planned to meet at their spot on the beach, and Logan never forgets things like that. He wrapped his arms around Logan’s waist and hooked his chin over his shoulder. He wondered if that would startle him, but Logan’s hands covering his own reassured him.

“What’s wrong, hun?” Patton squeezed Logan’s waist. “It kinda seems like you’re, what’s that word, brooding.”

“My apologies, Patton,” Logan sighed. “I did not intend to miss our rendezvous, I was simply…distracted.”

“Well that’s not like you,” Patton said. He frowned and slid onto the bench next to Logan, taking his hands in his own. Logan turned to face him and Patton could just make out his features in the moonlight. “Talk to me, sweetheart. What’s got you all knotted up?”

“It’s stupid. Irrelevant.” Logan shook his head. “At least for now. At the moment, however, perhaps you can help me with something else.”

“Anything,” Patton said with a smile and then shrugged. “Well if I can.”

“My family is holding a gala of sorts for a charity. However, at this gala, as their son, I will be expected to not only fraternize but dance…”

“And you don’t know how to?”

“I know that Roman taught you how to ballroom dance a while ago, and I was hoping that you could pass it on to me.”

“Are you asking me to dance under the stars, Logan?” Patton grinned is precious, beautiful smile and Logan felt himself smile back. He couldn’t help it when Patton was around.

“I suppose I am, Starlight.”

Before he could blink, Patton was pulling him upwards and dragging him out onto the grass where there was space for them to move. Patton guided his hands, placing Logan’s left hand on his waist and clasping their right hands, with Patton’s left on Logan’s shoulder. He very quickly explained the steps and began to guide Logan through them.

“Don’t we need music?” Logan asked.

“I never need music when I’m with you, Lo-Lo.”

Logan lost himself and simply followed through the steps for hours until pink light shined over Camp Half-Blood and Logan and Patton just swayed in each other’s arms.


	8. I'm Just A Sad Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan got hurt and hid it from his boyfriend Patton for three whole freaking days. Needless to say, Patton is not happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We've reached our first Arc Fic! Alright, so basically in this arc it was revealed that while Logan was walking past the sword arena some idiot decided to throw their sword. They missed and grazed Logan instead. He hid his injury and didn't tell anyone for three days. After what happened the last time one of them kept a secret, Patton was not happy and was afraid they were beginning to fall back into their old patterns. He was ranting when Logan interjected from behind him.  
> Title is taken from Sad Song by We The Kings

Patton looked at Logan as silence overtook them, not bringing himself to meet his boyfriend’s eyes. He could feel the space between them like it was solid and he hated it. He barely heard Virgil, the person he’d been ranting to, told them he would give the two some space and walked away.

Patton suspected he was just overreacting. He did tend to make mountains out of molehills. He just panicked when he saw the bandages stark white in contrast to the rich red blood showing through on Logan’s side. He hated seeing the people he loved hurt, even worse when he hadn’t known about it. Logan hid it from him for three days. THREE DAYS.

When he and Logan first got together communication was NOT their forte and it almost tore them apart. They lied through a smile and kept secrets and refused to admit when they weren’t feeling too great, physically or emotionally. But as they grew closer they got better, now telling each other everything and actively seeking each other out when something was wrong. Now Patton was scared that maybe Logan was falling back into his old patterns and that he’d lose the man he loved. He confessed all of this to Virgil before Logan had spoken from behind him.

Although, Patton thought it may be partly his fault. He must’ve done something that made Logan think he couldn’t tell him. Logan had grown too much to just stop trusting him for no reason. But Patton couldn’t think of anything he had said or done that could’ve caused him to lose Logan’s trust all of a sudden. Logan cleared his throat.

“Did you mean what you said to Virgil?” Logan asked.

“I did,” Patton admitted with a sigh. He took a step back and shivered, wrapping his arms around himself. It was pretty late and after seeing Logan’s injury Patton had gone outside to get some air, so it was starting to get cold in his t-shirt. “How much of that did you hear?”

“I suspect most of it.”

“Then I guess I should apologize for overreacting.” Logan opened his mouth to interrupt but Patton forged on anyway. “Look when I say I love you, I mean it. So it really hurt when I found out you were keeping such an important secret from me.”

“Patton-” Logan tried to interject but Patton cut him off again.

“Please Lo, just let me finish.” Logan reluctantly shut his mouth and Patton took that as his cue to continue. “This, us, it was almost over before it even began because we were keeping secrets and then to see you doing it again? Even worse, knowing you had kept it for three days and knowing you so well, I knew that you probably intended to never tell me at all. I’m just, I’m scared to lose you. But I shouldn’t have yelled or reacted like that, and I’m so so sorry, and I’m sorry for whatever I did to make you not trust me anymore.”

“No Patton, I should be the one apologizing,” Logan spoke up. “You are absolutely correct, and I should not have my injury from you. I simply didn’t want you to worry as I knew you would. I see now that that was the wrong choice because this is much worse than the scenario I was trying to avoid. I would trust you with my very soul without hesitation. You are not at fault for this scenario and I could never see you as such.”

“Oh Lo-Lo,” Patton sighed.

He charged forward and wrapped his arms around Logan’s waist, who embraced him without hesitation. Patton tucked his face into the crook of Logan’s neck as the older boy buried his nose in Patton’s hair. The two boys just stood there in the moment for a while.

“Oh and Patton?” Logan started, getting a hum in acknowledgment from the boy in question. “I love you too, starlight.”


	9. The Ones You Can’t See

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes the worst wounds are the ones you can't see.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): PTSD, panic attacks, abandonment, blood, light self-harm, anxiety, self-deprecation, depression, light cursing, triggers.  
> Now for the arc summary. It was changed a little bit to fit in a story format, but on the blog basically what happened was someone asked what it felt like to be claimed. Virgil described how horrible his claiming was and then disappeared for the next few questions until someone explained the situation to Roman and he went after him.  
> I experimented a bit with style with this one, for example, I change perspective often and quickly. In case that’s hard to follow, each point of view change has a couple of these guys ~~~~  
> Title from NVM by Faith Marie.  
> Title from the song NVM by Faith Marie.

~~~~~~~~~~

Roman was scared. Terrified, actually.

He tore out of the Big House, barely a destination in his mind. There were a couple of new campers and one asked them each what it felt like when they were claimed. Gods, Roman hadn’t even THOUGHT about Virgil. Of course something like that would trigger him. Ugh, how could he be so stupid? He just milled around the living room and didn’t even realize Virgil had disappeared until afterward. Some boyfriend (Were they boyfriend?) he was.

Being claimed had always been a big trigger for Virgil, even to this day. He’d gotten better, at least in Roman’s opinion, but it wasn’t something he could just get over. Virgil was only twelve when he was claimed and he saw all of the people he was starting to think of as family look at him with pure horror and disgust. He lost nearly all the friends he had made and was told by basically the entire camp that he was destined to be evil, just like his dad. As ashamed as he was of it, Roman had been a large contributor to that.

Now though, the Camp was a lot more accepting and people, Roman included, came around to the boy with the purple hair. That kind of thing happening to you at such a young age and while you were particularly vulnerable…well, it leaves a lasting scar. Logan had even compared it to PTSD once. And Roman could definitely see the similarities. He didn’t want Virgil to be alone through this, especially since that’s exactly what hurt him before and caused this. That was the last thing he needed.

Thankfully, Roman had a pretty good idea of where he went.

~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil was scared. Terrified, really.

It felt like the walls were closing in on him, which made no sense considering he was outside. Everything felt off like something was wrong with the world itself. It felt hostile and cold and unforgiving. So Virgil ran. He ran from the Big House, he ran away from that kid, he tried to run away from the fear, tried to run away from the memories. Instead, they bombarded him on all sides, no matter how hard or fast his feet hit the ground or how many people he bumped into.

Every person he passed could feel it too, if only for a moment. His anxiety was consuming him, causing his power to leech off him in waves. People would feel chills down their spine or like someone was watching them, and pure unaltered fear if Virgil actually touched them. He had to get himself under control.

His feet carried him through the camp, his eyes not even processing what he was seeing. He had no control over where his feet were carrying him until he fell to his knees with a thump. He wrapped his arms around himself and dug his fingers into his biceps, desperate for something, anything, to ground him. One hand ended up in his hair and gripped hard, but he could barely feel it.

Virgil just wanted it to stop.

~~~~~~~~~~

Roman was surprised, but relieved.

He had guesses Virgil would be at the beach but was still so so glad that his guess had been correct. He recognized the spot easily. One night, Patton declared that the four of them needed to spend time together as a group, considering it usually ended up being pairs. The training was done with one or two cabins at an activity at a time and at meals and the campfire you had to sit with your cabin mates. So Patton managed to persuade Thomas into letting the four sneak off to the beach and have a picnic by the waves. Patton had picked a secluded spot that was usually a little too close to the woods for campers to hang out there, but the four were confident that if anything happened they could handle it.

This was years ago, yet Roman knew all of them regarded it as one of their fondest memories. Not just with each other, but ever. At that moment Logan and Roman were bickering entirely goodnaturedly, smiling the entire time. Patton was telling jokes left and right that caused even Logan to crack a smile. Roman and Virgil weren’t fighting at all, and Virgil actually actively participated in the conversation with them, which was a feat back then. So he wasn’t surprised that this would be where Virgil would run to. A place where he felt safe, warm, loved, not alone.

He saw the boy kneeling in the sand, hand in his hair, and Roman’s air left him all at once like a punch to the gut. It hurt to see him like that. He knew it was going to be bad, but seeing Virgil curled in on himself, desperate, practically rocking back and forth, it just broke Roman’s heart. Before he knew it he was kneeling next to Virgil in the sand, trying to figure out if he should touch him or if that would make it worse. He glanced at Virgil’s hand where it was clenching his bicep.

He threw caution to the wind when he saw the blood.

~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil was surprised, but relieved.

He heard frantic footsteps behind him but could barely register them over the rush of blood in his ears and the crashing of the waves. His brain was just stuck on a constant loop no matter how hard he tugged his hair or squeezed his fist. He didn’t even realize his fingernails broke the skin until he felt the warm wetness of blood on his fingers. It wasn’t a lot, so Virgil couldn’t bring himself to worry about it at the moment.

Suddenly he felt strong, callused, and familiar hands rip his hands away from his body and his head whipped up in shock. There his eyes met the wide green eyes that were mirroring his own fear, but the kind of fear that comes with concern. Roman. He’d followed him. Honestly, Virgil hadn’t expected him to. He knew that he could be frustrating if not downright infuriating during his panic attacks, and at this point figured the others would just leave him to work through them on his own. But he was so so glad Roman found him. He really didn’t think he could be alone right now.

His breath caught in his throat, still reeling from Roman so abruptly seizing his hands. Usually, Virgil would be scolding him or freaking out but seeing the full out panic in Roman’s expression, the full realization of what exactly he had been doing crashed down on him.

He’d struggled with self-harm for a long time, both intentional and unintentional. But with the others help he had been getting better. Hell, he’d been clean going on four months now. Well, not anymore. He’d just set back all the progress he’d made the last few years. At least, that’s what he was telling himself. Roman squeezed his hands as the two just looked at each other, both breathing heavily for different reasons.

Then came the tears.

~~~~~~~~~~

Roman felt powerless.

As he seized hands, he cursed himself for taking so long to follow him. If he had just been faster, noticed Virgil was gone sooner, realized the question would trigger him. If he had done anything more to help Virgil avoid this, maybe it wouldn’t have gotten this bad, maybe Virgil wouldn’t have spiraled so deep. No, he couldn’t focus on his mistakes, now he had to be with Virgil. He had to help him. He looked in Virgil’s eyes, seeing nothing but fear and pain and shame staring back at him and almost started crying himself. He settled for squeezing the other boy’s hands, trying to pull him from the daze he seemed to be in, just staring at Roman as if he didn’t fully comprehend he was there. And then the tears started.

Out of nowhere Virgil just broke. It wasn’t gradual or slow it just burst out of him like a broken dam. Tears fell down his face faster than the waves could move, followed by horrible, gut-wrenching sobs tearing themselves out of his throat. He slumped forward, practically folded in half and Roman pulled him towards him.

Virgil buried his face in Roman’s t-shirt as the son of Apollo wrapped his arms around him, clutching him close. He didn’t say anything, neither of them had, but he hoped against all hope that he was conveying reassuring, promising Virgil that he was here, that he wasn’t going anywhere, that he was sorry for ever letting Virgil think otherwise. Soon, Roman had his nose in Virgil’s hair, breathing him in as tears silently fell from his eyes.

He didn’t plan on letting go anytime soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil felt powerless.

Something in him finally caved as he fell forward, was pulled into Roman’s chest. His hands now free, they found purchase in the fluorescent orange camp shirt, holding on for dear life. At the moment, it felt like Roman’s arms around him were the only thing keeping him afloat, like a rock Virgil clung to keep from being washed out to sea. He was drowning in the storm, everything coming at him from all sides with no time to recover, Roman his only purchase, his only shield.

He found himself mumbling a bunch of things resembling apologies, his words slurring together and barely forming sentence fragments. What he was apologizing for Virgil wasn’t entirely sure. For his weakness? For relapsing? For letting them down? For not being better yet? He didn’t even know anymore, the words just spilled out of him, completely without his control.

He was tempted to just force it all down, to tamp it out and pretend it never existed. But he knew that wasn’t healthy, and he was just tired. So he didn’t stop and let himself feel. Let himself feel the pain and the loneliness and the fear until he worried he’d have nothing left to feel. His hands slowly loosened their grip on Roman’s shirt as his sobs began to subside. Eventually, they stopped altogether. He closed his eyes and leaned against Roman, not quite bringing himself to bring away. The son of Apollo smelled comforting, like the generic camp soap, the sea air, and something distinctly Roman, almost like Roman. He felt safe and warm, and if Roman was any indication, the other boy didn’t want to let go yet either.

He didn’t plan to let go anytime soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

Roman felt grateful.

He felt Virgil fall against him and simply adjusted his grip, holding the other against him. He knew that it wasn’t this simple, that Virgil was suddenly okay. He’d be tired and probably dehydrated and he’d still be dealing with this for a while. Patton and Logan were probably starting to get worried and would be looking for them if they didn’t get back soon. But for now Roman was content to simply stay on their little secluded beach, wrapped up in each other and listening to the sea.

He didn’t plan to let go anytime soon.

~~~~~~~~~~

“Roman?”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Hm?”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Thank you.”

~~~~~~~~~~

“Anything for you, Virgil. Anything.”


	10. Prompt: “People assume that I’m not easily approachable. They are right, but still, they assume.”

Dennis had been minding his own business, leaning against the tree powering the camp’s magic borders, Ladon the dragon curled around his shoulders, a few heads reading Dennis’s book over his shoulder and a couple resting on his legs as they slept. Who knew dragons could read? It was Ancient Greek, but still.

Dennis didn’t feel threatened or in danger at all; actually he was completely at ease around the beast. He wasn’t sure why but reptiles always seemed to like him, everything from lizards to turtles, but especially snakes and small dragons and the like. Definitely not Draekons though. He wondered if Ladon actually counted as a reptile considering he was a magical dragon with a hundred heads but decided he fit into the category. Maybe he’d ask an Athena kid who actually tolerated him.

He heard footsteps approaching him up the hill and he looked up to see Remus Dux approaching him. He should’ve known his solitude wouldn’t last. He had nothing against Remus, he was not only Dennis’s boyfriend but his only friend. He knew that Remus would interrupt him eventually and he’d been prepared for it, he just hadn’t expected it so soon.

Remus reached the top of the hill and shooed away the heads in Dennis’s lap so he could dramatically drape himself over Dennis’s legs. Surprisingly, Ladon actually let him and relocated his displaced heads into Remus’s lap instead. Remus scratched the top of one of Ladon’s heads and Dennis was fairly certain that if he’d been a cat the dragon would be purring. Dennis could the number of people that Ladon would let do something like on one hand: himself, Remus, Thomas, and Chiron.

There were a couple of times a small group of campers would be wandering up the hill and as soon as the spotted Dennis they turned on a dine and walked away, their pace much faster than it had been. At first, he’d assumed it was the dragon cuddling him, but everyone knew that while Ladon may not be exactly friendly he definitely wasn’t hostile or aggressive. It was like Remus had read his mind as he voiced something pretty similar to those thoughts.

“Ya know, Dee-Dee,” Remus said, in an overly contemplative voice. “People assume that I’m not easily approachable.”

Dennis just looked at him.

“I mean yeah, they’re right, but still. They assume.”

Dennis shrugged and switched so that he was holding his book with one hand. That way he could see both the book and Remus’s face. Remus reached up and began to play with Dennis’s fingers which seemed to be a common pastime for the demigod.

“If I had to guess why,” Dennis replied. “It most likely has something to do with the numerous times you’ve unleashed monsters into the woods. Also that you purposely cause chaos wherever you go.”

“Hmph,” Remus pouted and stuck his tongue out at him. One of Ladon’s heads nudged Remus’s hand and he began to pet it again, still playing with Dennis’s fingers with his other hand. He fluttered his eyelashes dramatically. “At least I have you,” Remus grinned.

“Yeah, yeah you do,” Dennis agreed softly, for once not making a sarcastic comment. He even had a small, affectionate smile that he would vehemently deny.

He was back to himself and rolled his eyes as Remus reached up and booped his nose.


	11. Prompt: “You are mine and mine only, understand?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remy's very jealous and very possessive ex turns out to be a demigod. As expected, a confrontation soon follows.

It was a pretty normal day in Emile’s opinion. The sun was shining as always, and in the distance, he could hear the satyrs playing their flutes in the Strawberry fields. After getting dressed he stepped outside onto the Big House’s wrap-around porch and closed his eyes, breathing everything in. No matter how many years he was at Camp Half-Blood, waking up like this was always magical.

He checked his watch and saw that he only had a few minutes before he was supposed to meet Remy at the central hearth. His boyfriend insisted on making sure that as the Oracle had to know everything there was to know about Greek Mythology. So every morning they’d walk along the edge of the woods and talk about whatever random myth or monster that Remy thought of before going their separate ways.

The thing was, when Emile arrived Remy wasn’t there, which was odd. Remy nearly always beat him to the hearth. Whatever, it was fine. He was probably just helping one of his siblings with something and was running a few minutes behind. Yeah, that was it. But once those few minutes passed there was still no sign of Remy. Now Emile was starting to get worried.

Suddenly he heard a thud coming from what sounded like the Nike cabin and a grunt of pain. Emile’s breath hitched and he made his way there to investigate. What if someone was hurt or needed help? He couldn’t just ignore it. He heard voices but couldn’t make them out or what they were saying, just that they were coming from behind the cabin. He was about to turn the corner when he finally made something out.

“No!” Someone said loudly, just short of yelling. They sounded frustrated and angry instead of afraid, thankfully. “You are _mine_ and mine only, understand?”

“I said, get OFF me, Jamie!” Another voice growled. Wait, that voice he knew. That was Remy!

Emile quickly rounded the corner and saw a boy he didn’t know who was barely bigger than Remy. He had his hands clutching Remy’s jacket and was shoving him into the wall, pinning him there. Remy was struggling to push him back or get out of his grip, but couldn’t seem to get any leverage. At the sound of his footsteps, both boys turned to face Emile and he got a good look at the stranger’s face. He did look familiar actually, now that he thought about it. Right, it was that Nike kid who arrived at camp a day or two ago. Apparently his name was Jamie. Jamie’s face was contorted in rage and Remy’s eyes widened in a panic once he saw him.

“Get out of here, pipsqueak,” Jamie rolled his eyes. “This is between me and Rembrandt.”

“I’m pretty sure he told you to get off him,” Emile retorted, thankfully sounding much brave than he felt. This guy was almost half a foot taller than him and definitely more fit. Emile _really_ hoped this didn’t get physical because he did not stand a chance.

“Emile no, just go,” Remy pleaded, shaking his head. “I can handle this, just go.”

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Jamie scoffed.

“I’m his boyfriend and the Oracle of Delphi,” Emile said, crossing his arms and trying really hard not to look intimidated. “So unless you really want to tick off Apollo, I suggest you _let him go_.”

Jamie was quiet for a moment before he burst into laughter. Now he was REALLY starting to make Emile mad. He looked back at Remy with disbelief.

“Seriously, Rembrandt?” Jamie chuckled again. “This is who replaced me with?”

“He’s twice the man you’ll ever be Jamie,” Remy spat. “So I suggest you listen to him.”

“Oh really?” Jamie pulled Remy back enough so he could slam him back into the wall. Emile heard a thunk as Remy’s skull struck the concrete and he groaned in pain. Jamie let go of his jacket and stalked toward Emile, towering over him.

“And what are you going to do about it, Rebound?” Jamie said. He shoved Emile with way more force than was necessary. Emile hit the ground hard, scraping up his palms when he tried to catch himself. Jamie leaned over him and looked like he was about to punch him until they heard a voice from behind him.

“You _really_ shouldn’t have done that,” Remy commented.

Remy was standing behind Jamie, spear in hand with the point just inches from Jamie’s throat once he turned around. Emile had seen Remy angry before but he looked thunderous. A shiver went down Emile’s spine at the look on his face. It felt like the very air around them was charged with Remy’s fury, and he could have sworn he was starting to see white smoke curl around the three of them, like the Mist itself could feel Remy’s anger and was just waiting for him to command it. Emile was really glad he wasn’t the subject of that rage and hoped he never would be. Remy was terrifying.

“Last chance to back the hell off Jamie,” Remy warned the boy. “I will not offer again.”

Emile stayed on the ground, holding his breath as he watched the staredown between the two. He didn’t move or speak, something telling him not to break the tension. Jamie growled low and deep in his throat, his eyes flicking to Emile and then back up to Remy. He didn’t respond and instead turned around and stalked off, not even looking back at them. In an instant Remy dropped his spear and was kneeling next Emile, carefully taking his hands to look at them.

“Are you okay?” Remy asked carefully, all of the rage from just a moment before gone.

“I should be asking you that. How’s your head?” Emile reached up and lightly touch the back of Remy’s head, pulling back when he hissed.

“I’ll be fine, babe,” Remy promised, taking Emile’s hand and pressing a light kiss to the back of it.

“We should probably still both go the infirmary, just in case,” Emile pointed out. Remy didn’t argue and helped him up, the two beginning to make their way to the infirmary.

“Soooo…” Emile started. Remy quirked an eyebrow at him and he continued. “What was all that?”

“ _That_ ,” Remy sighed. “Was Jamie Locksford. He was my boyfriend in high school. I dropped him because he was ridiculously clingy and possessive. Had no clue he was a demigod till he got here, and I’ve just been waiting since then for it to bite me in the ass. I’m just sorry you had to get involved.”

“Hey, your problems are my problems remember? We’ll tell Thomas and Chiron about this so they know to keep an eye on him and then we can put this all behind us, alright?”

“Gladly.”


	12. Swear To Be Overdramatic and True (To My Lover)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil knows Roman did something in order to make the impossible happen. The only problem is, he has no clue what. Time to find out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, summary time. So this arc starts out with the readers finding out that Virgil got into his dream college with an arts scholarship and academic scholarship. But for some reason, Virgil didn't seem as excited as you would think he would be. After a bit of pushing Virgil confessed that the academics scholarship, which he wouldn't be able to afford the school without, came with some conditions. To make up for it Virgil would have to work on Campus as a teacher's aide during all of his breaks, which meant he wouldn't be able to return to camp at all until he graduated. But then Roman left and pretty soon after Virgil got a call saying that his scholarship went through and the conditions had been dropped. The boys put their heads together to figure out that to pull that off someone, presumably Roman, would need Dennis's abilities, Remus's influence in the academic world, and Remy's money. But Remus would never do anything Roman asked, so Roman had to have done something to get him and Dennis to agree. The question was what.  
> Title is taken from Lover by Taylor Swift.

Roman knew Virgil, he knew that he’d be mad, hence why he went straight to the armory to start on his chores instead of going back to the Big House. But holy shit he was not expecting this level of anger. He heard the armory door crash open behind him and couldn’t help wincing. That was not a good sign. He placed the dagger he was polishing back on the rack before someone seized the sleeve of his camp shirt and whipped him around. He prepared for yelling, and probably fighting but instead felt fast and desperate hands moving over him in a flurry of motion. He finally looked up into Virgil’s eyes and saw nothing but worry and concern which seemed kind of out of place considering the situation. Where was the fury? The frustration?

“What the _hell_ did you do?” Virgil said, pushing Roman back a few steps the second he was sure Roman was okay. Oh, there it was.

“Well, what do you know?” Roman said carefully.

“We know that you managed to get Remy, Dennis, and Remus to work together to call the school. We know you got Remy to make that anonymous donation, Dennis to talk to the dean and Remus to actually make the decision. What I don’t get is how? Dennis doesn’t just hand out favors, and Remus wouldn’t do anything you asked, ever, no matter what it is. But obviously you convinced them somehow. So I’m going to ask you again Princey, what the hell did you do?”

“I-” Roman paused. Virgil was already pissed to Tartarus and worried out of his mind, making Roman consider not telling him or even lying about it. Virgil’s ice-cold glare made him do a 180 real quick though and he swallowed before speaking again. “I owe each of them a favor.”

“Oh, you have GOT to be kidding me!” Virgil buried his face in his hands, his whole body so tense that Roman could tell from where he was standing. “Do you not remember the last time someone owed one of them a favor?”

“Of course I do.”

“And yet you still-, I-, all those times I called you an idiot I didn’t believe, not since the woods, but now I’m starting to wonder if I was right!”

“Stormcloud” Roman tried to say something but Virgil quickly cut him off.

“Oh no, don’t you ‘Stormcloud’ me Roman Prince.” Virgil looked up to angrily point his finger at Roman, before turning away and beginning to pace the length of the armory, not even looking at Roman anymore. “Alright, we can handle this. He can’t actually, like, _force_ you to do anything. I mean, worst comes to worst you can just refuse and what, he’ll get mad? That’ll be irritating, but it won’t be too bad.”

“IsworeitontheRiverStyx,” Roman muttered in one breath, not bringing himself to say it loud.

For a second he didn’t think Virgil could even hear him, but he was efficiently proven wrong. Virgil froze in his tracks facing away from him, not a single muscle moving or even twitching. Roman wondered if he was even still breathing. Ever so slowly Virgil turned to face him and the look on his face made Roman’s blood run cold, like ice in his veins. He had never seen Virgil that angry in his life and honestly it was fucking terrifying. His breath started to come a little short and he could hear his heartbeat in his ears. Was sit supposed to be that loud? Or fast? Virgil drew himself up to his full height and Roman took an instinctive step back. He didn’t truly think he was in danger or anything like that but he still did not like Virgil angry.

“What did you just say?” Virgil’s voice was so quiet and calm, way too calm. But Roman could hear it clear as day as if the sound carried over to him by the sheer power of Virgil’s will, which wouldn’t surprise Roman at this point. No one was ever that calm, and never Virgil. Indifferent or distant maybe, but never calm.

“I said…I said that I swore it on the River Styx.”

Roman watched Virgil carefully but he didn’t react at all for a minute. His expression didn’t change, he didn’t move, he didn’t blink. He was so dead.

“Why, in actual Tartarus, would you do that?!” Virgil’s voice slowly escalated until he was practically screaming. Like a dam broke somewhere inside him he rushed Roman, fisting his hands in his shirt as his eyes practically begged Roman to take it back, to say it was a cruel joke and he didn’t actually swear on the Styx.

Roman really didn’t want to, he knew it would only make the situation worse, but he felt his own anger rising to match and he shoved Virgil back, making the other boy let him go.

“Why? WHY?!” Roman couldn’t help it. How hadn’t he figured it out yet? How had it not crossed his mind, not once? “I did it because I care about you, idiot! Your dreams were handed to you on a silver fucking platter but there was this huge obstacle in the way and I’ve been watching you tear yourself apart over it for a week, even if I didn’t know exactly what it was at first. And I know you were conflicted, but I know you way too well and I know you would have turned it down. You would have given up on your dreams for us! So when I saw an opportunity to do something about it, to let you have everything you wanted, yeah, of course, I fucking took it. And so what if it has risks? Everything does! We’re literally hunted by actual monsters every day, everything we do has risk! Our climbing wall spews fucking lava for fuck’s sake! I wish there was another way, but you know what? There isn’t. So here I am. I’m sorry I worried and upset you, I really am, but I don’t regret what I did. Not one bit. What’s done is done.”

Virgil was staring at him as he took a deep breath, his spiel over. He meant what he said and he really really hoped Virgil would accept it because he wouldn’t be apologizing for it or taking it back. They both just stood there, waiting for someone to make a move or to say something, anything. The silence was deafening but charged with something Roman couldn’t place.

All of a sudden Virgil was coming at him and Roman wondered for a split-second if he was going to push him or punch him or something but then he felt lips on his and a hand on his waist and he inhaled sharply. He didn’t even have to process the fact that _holy fuck Virgil was kissing him_ before the other boy pulled back and bit his lip, and Roman realized he hadn’t even moved. Virgil breathed in like he was about to speak, probably to apologize or something equally stupid but Roman pulled him back down to connect their lips again. Virgil got with the program way quicker than Roman had, using one hand to cup his face and the other settling on his waist again while Roman’s hands found their way into Virgil’s hair.

Eventually, Virgil pulled back, presumably for air. The two just sat there, foreheads pressed together and eyes still closed as they realized what just happened and how fucking amazing it was. When Roman opened his eyes it was to see Virgil already looking at him, a small but completely dopey grin on his face that Roman couldn’t help mirroring.

“We’re still going to have to talk about this at some point,” Virgil pointed out, yet still not making any attempt to move away.

“Yeah I know,” Roman laughed. “I guess we’re both just a couple of idiots, aren’t we?”

“Just shut up and kiss me, Princey.”

Now, who was Roman to argue with that?


	13. Prompt: “Did we just rob a bank?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus knew he had power over Roman and decided to see if that power extended to Virgil. Turned out, it did. Oh this was going to be fun.

Life as a demigod was full of unexpected events, to say the least. Virgil had thought he was mostly used to it by now. Until that day.

He and his siblings had finished their activities for the day and had been free to wander, so that’s what he did. He was doing a lot of thinking, which was always dangerous for him, but all of his friends were still with their cabins and he didn’t really have anything better to do. He was walking along the edge of the woods when he heard a rustling in the shrubbery. He stopped dead and glanced around, trying to find the source of the noise. It could just be a squirrel or a dryad messing with him, but if it was a monster then it had wandered way too close to camp. He drew his sword and crept forward as he heard the sound again, pausing in front of the bush in question. He slowly reached out with his sword to part the leaves when all of a sudden an orange and green shape burst of the bush and sent him sprawling backward in shock. He fell to the ground and scowled at the now cackling person in question.

“Oh, my TARTARUS you should have seen your face!” Remus fell to the ground as well, giggling like a maniac.

Virgil rolled his eyes so hard he was pretty sure his godly blood was the only thing keeping them in his head. He got to his feet and resheathed his sword, brushing himself off as he walked away.

“Hey Buzzkill, hold up!” Remus ran after him and threw his arm around Virgil’s shoulders, and it took everything in Virgil not to break Remus’s arm. “I was lookin’ for ya actually. Ya see, I heard through the grapevine that you’re pretty good with computers and I could use some tech support.”

“Call Best Buy,” Virgil said, completely deadpan. He looked around but of course, there was no one around right now to help him out of this.

“Well ya see, I need your help for something that some people may consider slightly illegal.”

“Oh my gods,” Virgil sighed. He shoved Remus off him and pointed a finger accusingly in his direction. “I am not going to help you do something illegal.”

“Alright fine.” Remus shrugged and made to walk away but paused and looked back over his shoulder. “Of course, I could just make Roman do it. ‘Cept, he’s a lot more likely to get caught cause he has no idea what he’s doing and I don’t think 'I had to do it because I took a magical oath’ will hold too well in court. Oh well. Say, where is that dastardly brother of mine?”

He couldn’t believe he was saying this: “Remus, wait!”

Remus stopped again and this time turned fully, a grin on his face that honestly kinda made Virgil want to run and hide somewhere.

“Yes, Tall, Pale, and Gruesome?”

“… Fine. I’ll do it.”

“Oh, goodie!”

A couple of hours later Virgil shoved himself away from Chiron’s computer, having just entered the last line of code he needed. Remus still hadn’t told him what they were doing, and that made Virgil uneasy. He hadn’t realized just how crafty and clever Remus actually was, considering he managed to get Virgil to do what he needed without actually telling him what it was. Remus was jumping up and down and cackling, even clapping his hands joyfully. Oh, that did not reassure him.

“So,” Virgil started slowly. “Are you going to actually tell me what in Tartarus I just did?”

“Oh come on, Virgie-poo,” Remus pouted. “Look a little closer and figure it out.”

Virgil was this close to shoving his sword down Remus’s throat. He did look a little closer at the code. He was transferring stuff from one account to another, something he was pretty sure was money. But why would he…oh no.

“Did we just rob a bank?” Virgil said, eyes wide.

“Of course not!” Remus exclaimed, sounding absolutely offended. Virgil only had a moment of relief before Remus continued. “You just robbed a bank!”

With that he left, laughing so hard Virgil wouldn’t be surprised if he suffocated, leaving Virgil to stare at the computer screen as his brain registered what had happened.

Well, fuck.


	14. Prompt:  “Listen to me, or don’t I don’t really care.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil told Roman what Remus had him do...Roman has some things to say about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To clarify, this is a continuation of the last chapter and the next one will be too.

“Listen to me,” Roman pleaded, his desperation quickly turning into irritation when Virgil still wouldn’t turn to face him. “Or don’t, I don’t really care. But I don’t need your protection! You robbed a fucking bank Virgil, all because Remus threatened me? You could’ve been caught and sent to prison!”

“Oh, that is RICH coming from you!” Virgil finally whirled around. He no longer looked apologetic or ashamed; instead, he was just angry. “Or did you forget that the only reason we are even IN this situation in the first place is because of you doing this same thing!”

“This is completely different and you know it!” Roman exclaimed.

“NO, IT ISN’T! I don’t know what’s worse, the ridiculous double standards or the fact that you can’t even see it!”

“Oh, I’m sorry that I see owing someone a favor to keep you from sacrificing your dreams or all of your friends as different from possibly going to jail!”

“If I hadn’t done it you DEFINITELY would have gone to jail! At least I know how to cover my tracks so I at least had a chance of being fine!”

“How are you THIS STUPID?! He wasn’t actually going to ask me! I wouldn’t even have been able to get in much less actually transfer the funds! He was only saying that to get you to do it! AND IT FUCKING WORKED!”

“YOU KNOW WHAT? FINE. I'M DONE WITH THIS. JUST LEAVE ME ALONE.”


	15. Prompt: “Are we dating or not?”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman messed up, Roman messed up BAD.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reminder that this a continuation of the last two chapters.

Roman watched as Virgil stormed off, his anger slowly fading into shame and guilt. He still believed everything he’d said; Virgil shouldn’t have done all that. But he shouldn’t have gotten mad like that. Oh for Apollo’s sake, what had he done? They haven’t had a fight like that since the Forest Incident, and that was years ago. They still had fights obviously, but they weren’t backed by spite or fury anymore. Well, until now.

He’d called Virgil stupid and gotten so so angry at Virgil for trying to protect him! Why did he have to go and pick a fight like that? Wait, shit, what if he’d ruined whatever it was they had? Virgil saying he was done…he didn’t mean he was done like as in they were done. Right? Oh gods, please no. They had rough patches but Roman was so much happier now that they were…were they even dating? They never made anything official now that Roman thought about it. So technically they weren’t even dating! Of fucking course. Leave it to him to fuck everything up before the even started dating. Gods, how could he have been so stupid!

He slumped down until he was sitting on the steps up to the Big House porch, head in his hands. Damn it! Maybe this was never meant to work, maybe the Fates weren’t on their side. Roman just wasn’t good enough, he was destined to screw everything up, and that’s why they hadn’t made anything official yet. Virgil just knew deep down that Roman was all kinds of screwed up. It was always him, wasn’t it? He pushed Remus away, he was an asshole to Virgil at first just because, and now he’d wrecked what they had. Story of his life.

Actually, no, he wasn’t going to just sit around in self-reflection. He had to fix this, or at least try to. If he knew Virgil, the son of Phobos would probably be blaming himself, which Roman couldn’t allow. He had to explain and apologize, and hopefully save this before it frayed beyond repair.

He pushed himself off the steps and made immediately for their spot on the beach. Halfway there Roman realized that if Virgil was still mad at him, then he might not want to go to a spot he associated with Roman. Oh well, he was already almost there. He rounded a bend and finally _finally_ saw Virgil walking ahead of him. His head was hung and his hands were stuffed in the pockets of his hoodie, but he was there.

“VIRGIL!” Roman called out and broke into a run. Virgil looked back, his eyes wide with shock. He hesitated as he realized who had spoken as if he was considering walking on, but he stopped and turned towards Roman, just waiting for him to reach him.

Roman barely slowed down, instead barreling into Virgil and pulling him down into a fierce hug. Actually it was more Roman clinging to Virgil and Virgil holding up onto him to keep them both from falling, but the sentiment was there.

“I’m so so sorry for what I said,” Roman choked. When had he started nearly crying? “I know you were just trying to protect me and I shouldn’t have gotten as mad as I did, I’m so sorry.”

“Ro, it’s okay,” Virgil reassured him. He put on arm around Roman’s waist and rested the other one in his hair. “We both got way angrier than we should’ve, and I shouldn’t have stormed off like that. I should have trusted you too, and known better. I’m sorry too.”

“Oh thank the gods.” Roman sagged against Virgil a bit more in relief. “When you said you were ‘done’ I thought-”

Roman was cut off by Virgil squeezing him tighter against him and so Roman just grabbed onto Virgil’s hoodie tighter. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself. Of course, Virgil wouldn’t break up with him after one fight. Well, would it be a break up if they weren’t dating? That reminded him. He pulled back but stayed in Virgil’s arms, not bringing himself to move farther.

“Are we, uh..” Roman hesitated. This wasn’t too soon, was it? Well, too late to go back now. “Are we dating? Like… officially?”

He heard Virgil inhale sharply and he closed his eyes to prepare for the worst.

“If you’ll have me.”

Roman had never opened his eyes so fast. He looked up at Virgil and just stared for a moment. He couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. Virgil said yes! He wanted to be Roman’s boyfriend! And what was he talking about 'if’. If it was up to Roman they would have been dating years ago. An incredulous laugh burst out of him and he then he was pulling Virgil down. Their lips met in a series of kisses that had Roman breathless.

“Of course,” He managed to mutter between kisses. “I’ll always have you.”


	16. A Life Full Of Mistakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dennis is...being nice to Patton?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THE ARC FICS HAVE RETURNED. For this one, everyone (mainly the readers) noticed Patton was acting a little...off. After some pushing and a LOT of reassurance Patton finally admitted that he was upset because he felt like he wasn't being a good friend which he thought was his only job. The last few times that his friends had problems he hadn't been able to help them and he felt like he'd failed them. The readers told the boys and Dennis and then noticed that Dennis and Virgil had left, presumably to talk to Patton.  
> Title is taken from Devil on My Shoulder by Faith Marie

Patton had been sitting on his own on the wrap-around porch of the Big House. His head was lost in his thoughts and his hands were lost in his knitting when he heard footsteps stomping across the wood toward him, causing him to jump. When he looked up he was not expecting to see his brother of all people staring down at him. Dennis’s face was carefully calm but he couldn’t hide the tension in his body and expression, at least not from Patton. He didn’t know what Dee was angry about now but it seemed fitting for him to confront Patton just after Patton’s realization. Even so, he selfishly hoped that Dennis would just get it over with quickly because Patton was not in the mood for this.

He placed his knitting to the side carefully and his sigh of resignation was cut off when Dennis seized his wrist and yanked him to his feet. He all but dragged Patton around the porch and to the side of the Big House that faced the road instead of the camp. Still, Dennis looked around furtively like he was watching for eavesdroppers or spies. He glanced up at the sky for a moment too, though Patton was pretty sure there wouldn’t be any stray half-bloods hiding among the clouds. He was a little confused at the secrecy of the whole encounter; Dennis usually had no problem with coming at him in public, sometimes even did it on purpose.

Then suddenly he was being pulled down and there were arms around his shoulders. He closed his eyes and began to pull his arms up to catch himself, sure Dennis had decided to throw him to the ground but realized after a second that he had stopped moving and instead Dennis was pulling him down into him and holding him close. He was hugging him. _Dennis_ was _hugging_ him! Patton almost forgot to reciprocate the gesture, his thoughts completely stuck on “!!!!” Eventually, he figured it out and folded himself into his little brother, closing his eyes and just existing in the moment.

He had no clue what brought this on or why it was now of all times but Patton was so grateful that it was. This was the kind of thing he needed at the moment, not that Dennis knew that. He couldn’t help but wonder though. He didn’t have to wonder for long though. After a few moments in the hug, he heard Dennis began to speak from where his face was pressed against Patton’s neck.

“Don’t you ever go around saying any of that bullshit ever again,” Dennis muttered. He was so quiet that Patton could barely hear him and his voice was muffled by Patton’s skin, but he still managed to convey his usual amount of spite. Patton stiffened but Dennis still held him close. “We’re not close but I’m not an idiot. You’re probably one of the best friends and people in this entire damn camp. At this point, literally everyone knows that except for apparently you and I’ve developed a liking for telling you when you’re being stupid. So stop being stupid.”

Patton just stood there staring at a random point in space over his brother’s shoulder, listening and absorbing everything in this moment. He didn’t know when or if something like this would ever happen again, and he wanted to remember every bit of it. His brother’s voice, soft but still definitely his brother. The feeling of Dennis’s face and his scar pressed against his neck, his warmth, the way that everything else seemed to fade into the background. He didn’t even truly register Dennis’s words for a moment and when he did he was even more shocked. Before he could process what Dennis said he was pulling away. He felt something get pressed into his hand just before Dennis was suddenly gone.

Patton wasn’t sure how long he just stood there thinking and blinking at nothing with that object Dee had given him clutched in his hand before there were footsteps on the wooden deck behind him, that object Dee had given him clutched in his hand. He turned around to see Virgil standing there quickly checking him over. He didn’t come forward which Patton kind of appreciated because he was still shaken. Instead, the son of Phobos just sort of raised an eyebrow at him.

“I just saw Dennis walking away,” Virgil said. “You good?”

Patton decided not to bother replying because he honestly wasn’t sure. He wasn’t okay exactly, but he wasn’t about to fall apart either. Rather than trying to figure that out or lying to Virgil he just took a deep breath and smiled at him. The exhale was kind of shaky and the smile was weak but Virgil nodded and Patton got the feeling that if anyone understood it was him. Besides, more words of affection or reassurance weren’t what he needed at the moment. He wasn’t sure what that was though.

“Well Logan said to meet them in the strawberry fields at the edge of the forest where we always hang out,” Virgil mentioned with a shrug, but something about the way he was so carefully nonchalant made Patton’s smile a little more genuine. He knew this wasn’t just some random trip and if he knew his friends he was sure that there was a little more in store for him. Trust his friends to know just what to do when even he doesn’t know. “Obviously we don’t have to but I figured you’d want to.”

Patton let out a little huff of a laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, let’s go.”

Patton let Virgil get a few steps ahead of him before he opened his hand and looked at the small object Dennis had given him. It was some sort of pin, like the kind you’d put on a jacket or a shirt. It was black and yellow because of course it was. It looked like two snakes twined together or maybe one snake coiled up with two heads. Patton breathed out a soft huh" as he ran his thumb over the bumps of the black outline. He stared at it for a second longer before pocketing it and jogging to catch up with Virgil.

Words of reassurance were nice and if they were the right words and said by the right person they could make all the difference. But it wasn’t Dennis’s words that helped him, a thought or emotion like this couldn’t be waved away with kind words. No, now Patton knew he had a chance. He still had a shot with his little brother. He hadn’t completely ruined it after all and maybe, just maybe, he could fix it. It was far-fetched, sure, but it was a chance. And that was all Patton needed.


	17. Prompt: “Pretend that there is no one here but us.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil and Roman are hunting an empousa in the streets of New York, and Roman notices Virgil is acting weird.

Roman was so grateful for the Mist. Without it, he was sure that all of the mortals in the crowded square would notice the glowing golden sword on his hip and the large, pitch-black shield on his boyfriend’s back. But to the mortals they just seemed like your average teenage couple, taking a walk through the city hand-in-hand.

The two weren’t just having a day off though; in fact, they were actually on a quest. Well, Roman wasn’t sure he’d even call it a quest. They didn’t even get a prophecy or leave the city. It was more of a… field trip. Thomas and Chiron had heard word of an empousa causing a little bit of chaos around Manhattan and sent Roman and Virgil to kill her. They had started at the last place she’d been spotted and tracked her from there. But they’d lost the trail in the crowd. Based on the time frame she couldn’t have gotten far, so now they were trying to stay inconspicuous and see if they could spot her before she smelled them.

After a few minutes of looking, Roman realized that Virgil hadn’t spoken at all since they’d lost the trail. That wasn’t too odd he supposed, Virgil wasn’t exactly a chatterbox. But when he glanced over Virgil seemed stiff and paler than usual, which was saying something. He was tense and guarded, which made sense to an extent considering they were hunting a monster, but they had seen no sign of her yet. Virgil had Roman’s hand in a death group and his eyes were darting around almost frantically.

Roman changed course and guided them towards a nearby alleyway that was mostly deserted and squeezed Virgil’s hand to get his attention. His gaze snapped to Roman and just stood there and stared at him, waiting for Roman to speak. Roman didn’t bother to, Virgil had to have figured out he’d noticed his accelerated breathing. He simply quirked an eyebrow in question, and Virgil sighed. Bingo.

“I just…I don’t like crowds,” Virgil muttered, so quietly that Roman almost couldn’t hear him over the said crowd. “It’s all just too much everywhere all at once.”

“It’s alright, Stormcloud.” Roman tried to pull his hand back, assuming the touch may be contributing to the overwhelming sensations his boyfriend was experiencing but Virgil quickly tightened his grip and shook his head.

“Don’t, it’s, it’s grounding me,” Virgil admitted, his eyes fixed on their hands. Roman’s free hand came up to cup Virgil’s face, his thumb making slow strokes across Virgil’s cheekbone. Virgil immediately leaned into his palm and he suppressed the urge to smile.

“Just take a deep breath and close your eyes,” Roman said, Virgil following his commands. “Forget about all of them. Pretend that there is no one here but us. No mortals, no empousai, nothing. Just you and me.”

It took a few minutes of Virgil breathing with his eyes closed and Roman waiting patiently before Virgil opened his eyes and looked down at Roman. Roman squeezed his hand.

“Ready?” He asked.

“Yeah I, I think so.” Virgil nodded.

“Then let’s go kill a monster, shall we?”


	18. Prompt: “Don’t get mad, but I did that thing.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman reminds Virgil he can take care of himself.

“Don’t get mad, but I did that thing.”

Virgil did not like those words. He did not like them at all. He turned to face Roman who had stopped suddenly in the middle of the green where they had been walking. He closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. He looked up and saw Roman with his finger against his lip, something he always did when he was nervous.

“Ro, the last time you looked at me like that was when you told me you swore on the River Styx to owe Remus a favor.”

“Okay, it’s not as bad as that,” Roman admitted.

“Then what did you do?” Virgil almost didn’t want to ask.

“You know how your cousin goes to my school?”

“Roman…”

“I know you said not to talk to him BUT he came to me and she’s actually a really good guy-”

“Oh, my gods.” Virgil shook his head and started to walk away. Roman ran after him and reached for his hand turning him to face him. Virgil looked up over Roman’s head, not wanting to meet his eyes.

“Virgil, Love, look at me.” Roman cupped the side of Virgil’s face in one hand and tilted it down to face him. “You never told me why you don’t want me to talk to him.”

“It’s not him, it’s his parents,” Virgil said. “They aren’t the most accepting people, and I don’t know how he would react if he found out you were my…whatever we are. I don’t know if he’s like that but I didn’t want him or his parents to hurt you or get at you because of me.”

“Black Bird, I can take care of myself.” Roman pulled him down so their foreheads were touching and he felt Virgil’s hands come up to the small of his back. “I know you protect people, it’s what you do. But I am very out at my school but he still had a pleasant conversation with me. You don’t have to worry about me.”

“Alright.” Virgil sighed. “Alright.”


	19. Prompt: "It’s only a few bruises.” “A few bruises too many.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emile has a vision of what’s in store for Camp Half-Blood. And he does like what he sees.

It always happened so suddenly. Sometimes they would be triggered by something or come completely unbidden. Either way, they were abrupt and happened without warning, so the visions always caught Emile off guard.

Like for instance, when he was hanging out with his friends by the canoe lake. One second he was standing around watching Virgil playfully chase Roman around in an attempt to mess with his hair and then the next second he inhaled sharply as he felt something overtake him and found himself somewhere else.

Actually, wait. He wasn’t somewhere else. He was still standing in the same place he had been. Yeah, there was the canoe lake right there. But he wasn’t standing in an empty space of grass anymore. Now various tents and other simple cloth structures had been set up around the area. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say it looked like a field hospital. But why would there be a field hospital at camp when they could just use the infirmary? Unless for some reason the infirmary was full…

Emile heard scuffling nearby and turned to face the sound, seeing a battle-weary Virgil seemingly arguing with a just as grim-looking Roman. Both were covered in dirt and small scratches, but Roman had a large bruise above his left eye, a large tear in the right leg of his jeans and was holding his ribs carefully.

“Virgil I said I was fine.” Roman sounded frustrated like this was an argument they’d had before or have been having for a while. “It’s only a few bruises.”

“A few bruises too many,” Virgil argued right back, sounding just as irritated. “Especially since it might be your actual ribs that are bruised, not just the skin.”

“Look I’ll get them checked out later,” Roman assured him, squeezing his boyfriend’s bicep with the arm not wrapped around his chest. “But there are other campers who need medical attention a lot more than I do. And I know what you’re going to say, but I can’t go see Patton either. My siblings need all the healers they can get; hell, my combat ability is the only thing keeping me in the field.”

“I don’t like it,” Virgil grumbled. He leaned down and rested his forehead against Roman's, an uncharacteristically public show of tenderness considering they were in full view of the field hospital.

“I know, Stormcloud,” Roman sighed and closed his eyes. “I know.”

Before Emile could process any of what he’d seen he was falling towards the grass. Remy caught him in his arms as always and carefully helped him sit down in the grass. Emile looked around frantically and looked Roman up and down reaffirming to himself that there was no field hospital and that Roman wasn’t hurt and that what he’d seen had yet to come to pass, but the Son of Apollo noticed the action and now confusion added to the concern in his eyes.

His friends all sat around him with worried looks on their faces. As soon as he realized it wasn’t real yet he seized the journal he wrote down his prophecies and visions in and began to write frantically. He was possessed by the need to get down every single detail before any of it slipped his mind. He had so many questions that he couldn’t even begin to answer by the time the whole scene was on paper. He finally looked up at his friends and Remy immediately took his hand. He must have seen something in his eyes and Emile had never been more grateful that his boyfriend knew him so well.

“Baby, what did you see?” Remy asked softly.

“And why did you look at me weird?” Roman inquired, sounding confused and a bit nervous.

“I saw…” Emile took a deep breath. “Something bad is happening. And I don’t know what it is…or how to stop it.”


	20. Arm Yourself, A Storm Is Coming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman was taken, but Virgil has a pretty good idea of who did it. And now he knows where Roman is. Time to rescue his damsel in distress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Kidnapping/abduction, injuries, snakes (well, snake people), mention of blood, and a lot of crying from both me and the characters.  
> Okay this one had a lot in the asks, so here we go. Roman was at the orientation thing for his school, but while he was there he was attacked by a Lamia in front of like most of the school and a bunch of parents. Virgil's cousin Camden saw the whole thing through the Mist and Roman kinda panicked, sending an Iris Message to Virgil and most of the boys. Then all of sudden Roman was knocked out and the Iris Message cut out. After some brilliant deductions from Logan (and a couple readers) they figured out it was probably Remus, and so Virgil went to uh..."talk" to Dennis with Patton. Once they convinced him Remus was the one to kidnap him...Dennis actually gave them the address of he guessed Roman would probably be. And then this fic starts.  
> Title from Phoenix by League of Legends.

As soon as the words were out of Dennis’s scarred lips Virgil was walking in the direction of his cabin, for once standing at his full height. He heard hurried footsteps straining to keep up with his long strides, so he assumed it was Patton. He didn’t pause to wait for him though and slammed his cabin door open once he reached it. He didn’t even stop to consider what he might need before he’d grabbed Tempest and strapped his shield to his arm. His brain was stuck on this one-track road of  _ save Roman _ . He startled when a gloved hand grabbed his arm and spun him around.

He looked down at Patton, who was looking right back at him with some sort of expression that Virgil couldn’t read, almost like Patton himself didn’t know how he was feeling. Virgil could understand that, especially at that moment. He sighed and gently removed Patton’s hand from his arm. He didn’t want to worry the son of Hebe any more, but all he could think about was that the longer it was until they got to Roman, the less likely it was that he...they just had to find him. Fast. 

“Look, Pat,” Virgil sighed. “I’m sorry I snapped at Dennis, okay, I really am. But I can’t let you stop me. I am  _ going  _ to get Roman back.”

“I’m not trying to stop you,” Patton scoffed. “Of course we have to get him back.”

“Then what are you doing?”

“You need to slow down. Kiddo you’re completely manic right now, you can’t go into a fight like this.”

“No, we can’t waste any more time Patton!”

“It’s not a waste of time to make sure we  _ all  _ get out of this instead of none of us!”

“‘We’?”

“You didn’t think we were going to let you go by yourself, did you?”

“No, it’s just..”

“You didn’t want us to.”

Virgil was about to contradict him but the glare on Patton’s face stopped any form of protest. The shorter boy crossed his arms and didn’t look away, practically daring Virgil to argue. The worst part was, he was right. Virgil had wanted to go alone or had at least expected to. He just...he didn’t want to risk losing anyone else. Patton had always been a little too good at reading him, as his face quickly softened.

“Virge,” He said. “Let us help you.”

“Fine.” Virgil knew when to admit defeat. “But we can’t take too long Patton, I mean it.”

Patton didn’t respond to that, instead leading the way back to the Big House. Virgil was only half a step behind. They stepped up onto the porch only to find Logan already waiting for them, already equipped with his daggers and holding Patton’s medkit and slingshot in his hands. How did he DO that? Freaking Athena kids. Patton quickly explained that it would just be the three of them, which kind of irritated Virgil but still made sense. Three was the ideal number for a quest anyway. Thomas couldn’t go with them since he had such an important role at camp, Emile wasn’t a demigod, and Remy had to stay with Emile in case the Oracle decided to pay them a visit. They were the only other people he really trusted to have his back so he supposed he would rather it be just the three of them than a bunch of people he didn’t trust.

Logan showed them to one of the Camp vans that was already waiting for them on the road. Logan was the only one with a mortal driver’s license, so he climbed into the driver’s seat with Virgil and Patton in the backseat. The entire drive there Virgil couldn’t stop fidgeting in his seat, his eyes trained on the passing scenery. He just couldn’t stop thinking about ‘what if’. What if they were too late, what if they couldn’t get to Roman, what if Remus didn’t actually have him, what if Dennis had led them into a trap, what if he’d lied to them, what if, what if,  _ what if _ ? Virgil just couldn’t lose Roman, not now, not when this thing was still new and fresh and warm and just so so amazing. He’d realized it earlier, but he was in love with Roman. If you had told his fourteen-year-old self that one day he’d be ready to say ‘I love you’ to Roman Prince of all people, he probably would have punched you in the nose. But here he was.

The address Dennis had given them was a house in the middle of a more-rundown neighborhood, which kind of surprised Virgil. He’d almost been expecting a full-on supervillain lair, complete with an abandoned warehouse. The house didn’t even look deserted. 

“Logan, you sure this is the place?” Virgil asked, watching the house through the van window. Logan had parked the van a couple of blocks away to give them the chance to case the property, but the only danger Virgil could spot was a few mortals in the house-wait, those mortals had snake legs. “Nevermind.”

“You see them too?” Patton said.

“Scythian Dracanae,” Logan cursed, running a hand through his hair. 

“Dracanae aren’t too bad,” Virgil shrugged. “We can take them.”

“On their own, they are fairly easy,” Logan agreed. “But I can nearly guarantee there is a large number within the house and blocking our way to Roman.”

“Okay,” Virgil said slowly. “So, Mister Strategist, what do we do?”

“Give me a moment,” Logan murmured. He spent a few more minutes watching the house windows, though Virgil wasn’t entirely sure what he was looking for. Whatever it was he apparently found it as he nodded in satisfaction. “Virgil, you have had experience living in a suburban area, correct?”

“Uh, yes?” Virgil answered, though it sounded more like a question. “Why?”

“Would you say it was likely for this type of house to have a cellar or basement?”

“Probably.” Virgil shrugged before it dawned on him. “Oh, you think Roman is down there.”

“I do, and I have a plan.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil crouched in the bushes behind the house, trying to keep track of the Dracanae and their positions. He was also trying to prepare himself for whatever he might find in that basement but quickly shoved the thought into one of the dark and dusty corners of his mind. Fight now, worry later. He stayed low, waiting for Patton’s signal. Well, he didn’t know if he’d call it a  _ signal _ exactly. Everything was quiet until there was the sound of glass breaking followed by a screech and loud hissing from the front of the house. He forced himself to hold back, to not move until there was a pause in shadows passing the kitchen and the sounds of fighting were prevalent. Logan and Patton’s diversion had started. 

Still, Virgil crept forward. As much as he wanted to sprint into the basement and drag Roman out of there, his part of the plan relied on him not being detected. It felt as though it took years and all the self-control he had, but son Virgil was at what he assumed was the basement door. He opened and closed it behind him as quietly as he could, not wanting to alert anymore Dracanae that may be down there. Gods, it was pitch black down there. Virgil didn’t risk turning on a light so as to not alert anyone to his presence. He raised his shield as he slowly descended the stairs, step by step. The silence, as opposed to the battle raging upstairs, was excruciating and Virgil wanted nothing more than to just shout Roman’s name into the darkness. He bit his lip to resist the urge, but he hadn’t heard any sign of anything moving down here, which admittedly worried him a bit.

“Roman?” Virgil called out, his voice barely above a whisper. 

He got no response.

“Ro please, this isn’t funny,” Virgil pleaded, desperation in his voice now. 

He waited a moment more and after still not getting a response decided screw stealth. Logan and Patton had the monsters upstairs occupied and if a few made their way to the basement Virgil could dispatch them easily. He ran his hand along the closest wall until his hand came across a light switch right about where he thought the stairs ended. He counted to three in his head and flipped the switch, immediately spinning around in a defensive stance with his shield in front of him and sword raised. He didn’t see any snake women but his eyes did fall upon a familiar figure slumped in a chair in the middle of the room. 

“Roman,” Virgil breathed, dashing forward.

Roman was slumped in the rickety chair, his chin against his chest. Virgil couldn’t see his face but the auburn hair and freckles up and down his arms gave him away. His ankles were tied to the front legs of the chair with rope but his arms were bound behind him with Celestial Bronze chains, as expected. Virgil moved to the back of the chair and prayed to his father to sharpen his sword before raising it in the air. He really doubted this would work, mostly because it shouldn’t and Phobos very rarely if ever answered his children’s prayers, but Virgil did not have the time or the patience to try to pick the lock. He swung Tempest down, striking the chains and, to his surprise, slicing straight through them like they were nothing. Virgil just stood there blinking for a second. He silently thanked his father before remembering the situation at hand. 

His sword clattered onto the concrete floor as Virgil once again rounded the chair. He managed to untie Roman’s ankles despite his shaking hands. He took his shield off so he could cradle Roman’s face in his palms gingerly like he was afraid his touch would shatter him. Now that he got a better look at him, Virgil could tell that Roman was definitely looking worse for wear. His camp shirt was in tatters, blood staining it in one or two spots. There was dried blood on Roman’s face and bruises all over his body, and his breathing was weak but he was  _ alive _ .

“Roman?” Virgil begged, stroking his cheek with his thumb. “Come on baby, I need you to look at me. Don’t do this to me Roman, don’t do this to me again.”

A strangled half-sob clawed its way out of his throat as Roman still didn’t even stir. He was mostly fine, at least Virgil thought so, but he was no healer. What if he had like, internal bleeding or something Virgil couldn’t see because he didn’t know to look for it? His vision blurred through tears as all of the fear from the last few years slammed into him at once.

“Come on, beautiful.” Virgil’s voice was rough now with barely-contained cries, Roman’s vacant expression swimming before him. “You gotta wake up, I need you to come back to me. You have to be okay Roman, you  _ have  _ to. I still have so much I want to do and say and tell you and I-” Another choked sob escaped. “Please, just  _ wake up _ !” 

Virgil squeezed his eyes shut as hard as he could, as if that would block out everything wrong with this scenario, number one being Roman’s limp body in his arms. He heard a groan and his eyes flew open, watching Roman’s eyelids flutter. Once Roman realized someone was touching him his eyes wrenched themselves open wide and he began pushing away from Virgil in a blind panic. Virgil barely managed to hold on to his boyfriend, refusing to let him go again.

“Roman, baby it’s me, it’s me,” Virgil spoke reassurances over and over until he saw recognition behind Roman’s eyes followed behind a blossoming hope that made Virgil want to start crying all over again. 

“W-wait,” Roman rasped, his voice rough and dry. “Virgil? You’re, you’re here?”

“It’s me, sweetheart,” Virgil nodded slowly, a watery smile finally finding its way onto his lips. “I’m here.”

Like the center of gravity had shifted, both boys fell into each other, hands grasping whatever they could find. Roman clung to Virgil like a drowning man would a breath of fresh air and Virgil wasn’t planning on loosening his grip anytime soon. Virgil was kneeling on concrete and Roman was still sitting in that chair, but damn it it was still the greatest hug Virgil had ever had. Virgil felt Roman tuck his face into the crook of Virgil’s neck and tears fall onto his skin and that was all it took for him to fall apart. He buried his face into Roman’s shoulder and just cried, ugly, rough, sobs that made his whole body shake and his hands cling tighter to the remains of Roman’s shirt. Gods, he had been so fucking scared and angry, so sure he was going to lose him. Every single emotion he’d pushed aside since that Iris Message dissipated seemed to hit him all at once and he just couldn’t handle it. Thankfully Roman didn’t push him away, instead reciprocating the tightness of the hug.

“I was so scared, Virgil,” Roman whispered into his neck. Virgil forced his sobbing to subside at least a bit so that he could hear what Roman was saying. “I thought I wasn’t going to see you again.”

“Me too.” Virgil pulled back just enough to remain in Roman’s arms but could still see his face. He lightly brushed away a tear on Roman’s cheek, trying to summon the same smile from earlier. “But I’m here now.”

“There’s something I need to tell you,” Roman practically blurted out. Virgil kept his mouth shut as Roman chewed on his bottom lip, not sure how to proceed. “This whole thing, it, it made me realize that, our lives are so unpredictable and dangerous all the time. I could lose you at any moment or the other way around and I…” Roman took a breath slowly. “I don’t want that to happen before I tell you that...I love you.”

Virgil inhaled sharply and Roman’s eyes fell to his knees, not looking at Virgil as he processed what Roman had just said. He loved him. Roman loved him. He couldn’t help the incredulous that bubbled out of him and made Roman look back up in confusion. Virgil cupped his face again and pulled his lips down to meet his in a passionate, almost desperate kiss but oh so sweet and loving that they both had to pull back because they were grinning too much. 

“I love you too, Ro,” Virgil laughed again. Gods, this day was just a rollercoaster of emotions. “I love you so damn much that half the time I don’t know what to do with it. If I can help it, I'm going to say it to you every single day until you get sick of it or I can’t anymore.”

“I will never grow sick of it.” Roman’s hands came up to wrap around Virgil’s, his smile the most beautiful thing Virgil had ever seen. “And I get the feeling that neither will you.”

“I love you, Roman Prince.”

“I love you, Virgil Camden.”

“You’re right, I’ll never get tired of that. Now let’s get you out of the creepy hostage basement, shall we?”

“Please.”


	21. I'll Be Safe In Your Sound Till I Come Back Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patton knows he loves his little brother, he always has. But now that Dennis is under some sort of brainwashing spell from Remus…Patton has to hope his brother loves him too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Manipulation, mind control, toxic relationship, blood, injuries, stab wounds, Unsympathetic Remus  
> Now we get to the SAD. Here's where we get to some of the overall plot, although I guess some of that happened last chapter too. But here, Dennis confronted Remus about kidnapping Roman and Remus realized he was losing him. So he casted a type of mind-control spell. Remy and Emile told us that it wasn't quite a mind-control spell. Instead of overriding their will, it searches for any positive feelings you have for the caster and amplifies them to the point where you trust them entirely and don't question anything they say or do. So Dennis, who was in love with Remus before the spell, is basically a robot, completely under Remus's control. The only thing that could break him out of it is someone that he has positive feelings for are stronger than even his magically enhanced feelings for Remus. That's where Patton comes in.  
> Title taken from Someone You Loved by Lewis Capaldi

Patton took a deep breath, fidgeting with the hem of his glove. He wouldn't take them off, not unless he absolutely had to. Most of the time Patton didn't even consider his powers an option. Not even Monsters deserved to feel themselves turn to dust. But he knew that, while he'd look for another option, for Dennis? He'd rip them off in a heartbeat. He never worried he'd need to, but this time he wasn't sure. He had a feeling something was going to happen, something was going to go wrong.

"Patton?" 

Patton turned around at the sound of his boyfriend's voice.

"Hey," Patton said, his voice shaking. 

"You can do this, Patton," Logan promised. His voice sounded so sure, so confident, that Patton couldn't help feeling it too. "I know what it's like to be loved by you, it is so warm and powerful, just like you. I know that Dennis misses that just as much as you do. You'll get him back."

Patton smiled and pulled Logan down so he could kiss him, slow and sweet with something more bitter... something like an apology. Patton pulled back and let his hand linger on Logan's face. He knew he had tears in his eyes, and he wasn't even trying to hide them. He wasn't ashamed to admit he was scared.

"I have to go now," Patton told him. He turned to look at the others and suddenly he had an armful of black cloth and purple hair clinging to him and Patton laughed wetly. "I'll be fine Virgil. Dee would never hurt me."

"Just...be careful," Virgil muttered.

"Always."

Roman approached next after Virgil had forced himself to pull away from Patton. 

"I just hate that we can't go with you," Roman sighed, also pulling the shorter boy into a hug.

"I know," Patton agreed. "But we can't risk Dee reacting badly when he sees you guys."

Patton stepped back. He was wasting time, time he didn't have. He looked around the room again, eyes catching on the faces of the people he loves so so much and would do anything for and smiles again.

"I'll be back," Patton promised. He believed he would, but it was whether or not he'd come back the same that was the question. "I promise."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dennis didn't think he had ever felt the amount of hate and panic he was feeling at the moment. He stared through his own eyes with no control over his body and mind at Remus. He was a prisoner in his own mind with thoughts slamming into him that didn't belong to him, trying to convince him that they did. He just couldn't believe this was happening! He'd loved Remus, and he thought Remus loved him back but this…even he knew this wasn't love. 

Dennis couldn't even console himself with the fact that Patton was coming to save him because Remus knew about that! Worse still, Remus had ordered Dennis to kill his brother once he'd arrived. No matter how he screamed and fought and pleaded no one heard him. All that happened was Dennis hearing his own voice agree flatly. He wanted to sob as Remus handed him his own black and yellow rapier, the weapon that had protected him for years, and Dennis watched his gloved hand wrap tightly around the handle.

What was he going to do?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patton had been worried finding Dennis and Remus would be difficult but he found out quickly that they were in the Eris cabin. He probably should have been able to figure that out himself but he was a little frazzled. Gods, he didn't even know what he was going to say. Beg? Plead? He'd tried all that before but it hadn't worked then. Why would it work now? 

He paused in his tracks as the Eris cabin came into view and he saw...Remus and Dennis were standing outside of it, looking directly at him. They knew he was coming. How did they know he was coming? Patton ignored Remus and focused entirely on his brother but almost wished he hadn't. The look on his face wasn't just blank, it was empty. Not even guarded like Patton had seen plenty of times before. It wasn't even Dennis.

Patton's hand reached into his pocket and tightened around the small metal object there as Remus said something to Dennis and his little brother began to advance on him, rapier at the ready. Now that, that was just SICK. Remus was forcing Dennis to kill him? What was WRONG with him. Patton couldn't dwell on it because Dennis was only a few feet away. He switched the object into his left hand and grabbed the dagger Thomas had shoved into his hand as he left.

Dennis swung before Patton could even open his mouth and Patton just barely managed to dodge out of the way, the blade putting a small rip in his camp shirt. This wasn't good. Dennis was fast, much faster than Patton, and Patton wasn't a skilled fighter with a blade to begin with.

"Dennis listen to me," Patton begged, taking a step back for each step Dennis took forward. "I know you, alright? I know you think I don't, not anymore. And I know you hate me, that you think I betrayed you and abandoned you when you needed me most and you have every right to think that because I did."

Dennis charged forward and Patton ducked under his sword and rolled to the side so he had a long stretch of grass behind him.

"I'm sorry. I have never regretted anything more than I do that. I was wrong but I NEVER meant to hurt. I love you Dee-Dee, I could never hurt you."

Patton stopped in his tracks and tossed his dagger to the side. Dennis paused too, looking between Patton and the dagger in confusion, like he couldn't understand why Patton wasn't fighting back. But when he looked back into his eyes Patton saw something flicker there, something behind the blankness, behind the spell. Something that recognized him, something that was hopeful and afraid and  _ fighting _ , and that gave Patton what he needed to push on.

"And I know you won't hurt me." Patton pulled out the object in his pocket and held it out for Dennis to see. It was the pin Dennis had given Patton when he'd comforted him what felt like forever ago. The two snakes caught Dennis's attention and Patton huffed out a laugh of relief. It was working. It was actually working!

"I know you still love me Dee. You have to remember this. You gave it to me when I was upset. You hugged me, and I knew that meant I still had a chance. And if I still do then you HAVE to come back to me Dee! I swear to you, I will never leave you again as long as you want me there. You're my little brother, I will always love you. So come back. I know you're stronger then this because you are stubborn and hate being told what to do and who to be so FIGHT IT!"

It felt like Gaia herself was holding her breath as Patton watched Dennis freeze mid stride and his rapier fall out of his hand. It rolled across the grass out of Patton's vision but he didn't turn to watch it. He could practically see the war within him, the spell versus Dennis. More than once Patton thought Dennis was losing. Then something amazing happened. Dennis moved and shook his head, looking down at his hands and flexing his fingers. Then he looked up and Patton let out a sound that was a cross between a laugh and a sob.

"Patton?" Dennis breathed. There was so much emotion behind just his name and Patton laughed in pure joy. 

Dennis sprinted towards him and when they collided, Patton wrapped his arms around the son of Apate like he wasn't ever going to let go. Gods he'd missed his brother. But now he'd gotten him back. Dennis was free, free to be himself and free from Remus and they could finally stop him. Patton was so freaking happy.

Then he knew nothing but pain. 

He felt a horrible burning sensation from his stomach and suddenly he couldn't breathe. It hurt so much that when he tried to scream all that came out was a strangled groan. Dennis pulled back and looked at him in confusion before he looked down and his eyes widened in horror.

"PATTON!" He screamed. Huh. That didn't sound like a good scream. He looked down to see the narrow bronze blade of Dennis's rapier jutitng out of his stomach, his orange shirt all ready stained with blood. Well that was probably why.

Patton felt the blade getting pulled back out of him and his entire vision flashed white from pain as he was finally able to scream. When he was back to himself he was on his knees and Dennis wasn't in front of him. He heard someone yelling in anger that he was pretty sure was Dee but he couldn't be sure. Everything sounded distant and muffled, like he had water in his ears. He tentatively pressed his hand against his stomach and it came back coated in blood. Everything hurt, so freaking much, his stomach and back felt like they were on fire. His mouth tasted like metal and when he coughed he saw blood splatter against the green grass. That wasn't good.

Dennis reentered his vision and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him a bit so he would look at him. He heard his name a few times and then Dennis screamed out to the side something about someone helping. Patton supposed he did probably need help. He fell forward and Dennis caught him, cradling Patton against him. He moved him so Patton's side was against him and his head was on his little brother's shoulder and Patton couldn't help thinking 'This is nice'.

"PATTON!" He heard Logan cry. 

Then he closed his eyes.


	22. The Tide Has Turned

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It’s finally happened. Remus has finally snapped and now he’s gone too far. He took away Dennis’s will and shoved a sword through Patton’s gut. Now Eris and Phobos are with him, and Phobos is spreading an aura of fear through the forest, one that no one can get through without panicking. Well…no one except Virgil.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning(s): Just the usual fighting and cursing, infirmary/hospital, blood/ichor, Unsympathetic Remus, mentions of injuries.  
> Okay this one is pretty long, but that's because on Tumblr it was 3 parts. In case you're confused, I put some of these guys "~~~~~~~~" where each chapter break/POV change is supposed to be. Okay, arc summary time.  
> Most of it is in the chapter summary, actually. After stabbing Patton Remus ran into the woods. While Logan, Dennis, and Thomas got Patton to the infirmary, Virgil and Roman went to search the woods for Remus. It was pretty touch and go for a while but Patton woke up with the help of Hebe who showed up for a hot second. Then Roman and Virgil apparently got a little too close because they ran into an aura of pure fear that cause Roman to start freaking out. They moved just outside the fear barrier and figured out it had to be Phobos, and since Virgil is his blood he was immune to the fear. They didn't have time to go back to Camp and get help because who knew what Remus was up to, so Virgil went to confront Remus, Eris, and Phobos alone.

Virgil could hardly believe he had ended up in this situation. 

Here he was, in the middle of the woods on his way to fight Roman’s completely deranged sort-of-twin brother, who knew he was coming, with nothing but his shield and his boyfriend’s enchanted sword. Oh, and two gods, one of which was almost guaranteed to be his father. Even better, since one was his father, no one but Virgil could get anywhere near them because they’d be completely consumed with fear. So Virgil was completely on his own. Great. He loved this. 

His hold on Roman’s sword reflexively tightened as he thought about what was waiting for him ahead. At the moment it was in its single sword form, which was at least similar to Virgil’s own sword. But he’d trained with all the forms of Roman’s sword, so at least he had options. The grip, while unfamiliar, was familiar enough that it comforted Virgil. The faint golden glow, rather than the bronze of Tempest, helped as well, almost letting him believe Roman was walking next to him. 

He just  _ really  _ didn’t want to face this alone. Hell, he’d even take Dennis, and the two of them had always been tense. But as he drew closer and felt his father’s power grow, he decided that he would take anything, tension be damned. It seemed like he was drawn to the epicenter of the fear, which he really didn’t want to think about, but at least he wasn’t searching blindly. After a few minutes of following the aura, Virgil realized where he was headed. Of course, they would. Hiding out at Zeus’s fist was a whole new level of irony; Virgil might even call it a mockery. Not for nothing, but he knew the area. That was something.

As he approached, the brush and trees around him began to thin out until the treeline ended altogether for one of the few landmarks in these gods forsaken woods. Well, he supposed they weren’t gods forsaken anymore. He ducked behind one of the thick bushes, shushing the confused dryad. She huffed in annoyance but thankfully disappeared when she saw what he was looking at. 

In the middle of the clearing was the infamous pile of boulders the campers referred to as Zeus’s fist. You could only see the fist at a certain angle though, and Virgil wasn’t there. Remus was prancing around as much as he could on top of the boulders, kicking his leg out with each step. Virgil couldn’t see it clearly through the branches, but Remus was clutching something in his hand that Virgil thought maybe looked like some kind of spellbook. He could even guess it was the same one the son of Eris had used to fucking brainwash Dennis. 

Speaking of Eris, he assumed that the woman leaning against the boulders with her arms crossed was the goddess herself. She had long hair falling down her back, all the way to the backs of her knees, and it was so dark that it almost looked purple. She was definitely tall, at least half a foot taller than Virgil, and he was 6’3”. But she was a goddess, so he didn’t know what he was expecting. She had a headdress composed of black spikes, and she was wearing a black and purple…garment that was some sort of combination of a toga and a dress. ((It's a long, one shoulder drape dress, Virgil is just stupid)). 

The other person he recognized immediately as his father. He'd appeared to Virgil before, years ago, a little while after Virgil got claimed. Phobos could obviously appear however he wanted, but he usually decided to look like a teenager or young, which was kinda weird for Virgil considering his father looked barely older than him. He knew that Phobos's eyes were fiery and red and looking into his eyes could induce fear, but he was wearing sunglasses over them. Other than that he had a red bandana and leather jacket, with a white t-shirt, ratty jeans, and combat boots. Considering Remus's black jeans, red and green hair, and bright orange camp shirt, they were certainly an eclectic bunch. 

"Why are we waiting," Phobos whined, turning to face Eris. "Let's just do the spell now."

"Because," Eris said, her patience so incredibly fake it was almost condescending like she was placating a small child. "Remus doesn't have the power to pull off the spell on his own, and the two of us can't cast it because you need mortal blood. So he needs more power. We need to wait until the sun is in the right position so we can transfer our power to him. Unless you have a random demigod I can drain it out off with that spell I cast earlier."

"Well my son is hiding in the bushes," Phobos shrugged nonchalantly but Virgil's went wide. Oh shit. He'd completely forgotten! Phobos could sense fear, and Virgil's ability to project it meant he always had a bit of an aura. If he got close then his father could literally sense him. "Come on out, Virgil." 

Shit shit shit shit shit. He couldn't think of any other way out of this, and there was no point in angering the immortal beings any more than he was going to soon. He slowly walked out into the clearing, Roman's sword in a death grip as his eyes flitted to each of the people around him. Remus jumped down from the boulder pile and skipped over to Virgil.

"Well it is about time you got here," Remus scoffed. Gods, Virgil had not missed his annoying voice at all. "It's rude to keep people waiting."

"You were waiting for me?" Virgil asked before he could stop himself. 

"Well yeah." Remus rolled his eyes. "We knew you'd end up coming alone if we played our cards right, and we needed another half-blood. For a while there though, we thought you weren't going to show! But now you're here and we can get this show on the road!"

"Excuse me?" Virgil pushed out through a clenched jaw. Remus didn't really think Virgil was going to  _ help _ them, did he? 

"Come on kiddo," Phobos said. Virgil got the distinct feeling he was rolling his eyes behind his sunglasses. "Just let Eris transfer your power to Remus."

"I am  _ not  _ going to help you." Virgil shook his head. Remus took a step closer, so Virgil could touch him if he reached out and it took everything in Virgil to not take a step back. 

"Listen here kiddo," Phobos said and began to come towards Virgil. "I get you're in your rebellion phase and I look pretty young, but I am still your father."

"No, you're not," Virgil countered. "You might have contributed to my existence and be the reason I have these powers, but you have NEVER been my father. I stopped being your son a long time ago. And I will _ not help you!" _

Virgil lunged forward and grabbed Remus's head, forcing the boy to look him in the eyes. He didn't like to use this power because in his opinion it was cruel and unnecessary, but he had no such reservations for Remus after everything he'd done. He focused his power and narrowed in on the dark corners of Remus's mind where his pain and fears lied. He grabbed hold of the darkest, most intense feeling of fear he could find and dragged it to the forefront of Remus's mind, forcing him to vividly and realistically experience his absolute worst fear. He drew it out as long as he could before he felt a hand seize his upper arm and force him off of Remus.

Once Virgil regained his bearings he saw Eris bearing furiously down at him. She felt her wicked nails cutting into his flesh and he hissed in pain. He hit her across the face with his shield as hard as he could and she stumbled back. Remus was on the ground on his hands and knees, breathing heavily and seemingly completely unaware of his surroundings. Virgil spotted the spellbook on the ground next to Remus and lunged for it. Suddenly his father was between him and the book, charging at Virgil with his sword drawn. 

Virgil raised his shield and the sword glanced off the black metal harmlessly, making Phobos growl low in his throat. Phobos was fast, and Virgil didn't have time to react before there was a hand wrapped around his throat and hoisting him into the air. 

"I'm getting real sick of that shield," Phobos declared. He grabbed Virgil's shield with his free hand and yanked it off his arm before throwing it clear across the clearing. This was not going well for him.

Virgil raised his sword but Phobos grabbed that arm too and held it in place. Virgil scrabbled at the hand slowly squeezing tighter and tighter around his neck but couldn't escape the hold with one hand. Except he had more to work with. He managed to angle the sword and prayed that it was right. He watched his father quirk his head in confusion as he heard the prayer and Virgil smirked. With a though, suddenly the sword in Virgil's hand was Roman's signature double-bladed sword, with one of the blades in Phobos's shoulder. 

The god cried out in pain and dropped Virgil, who dropped to his knees and instinctively reached up to his own throat. He drew in deep, gasping breaths to try to regain the air he'd lost. The black spots slowly disappeared from his vision as he watched Phobos back away and clutch his shoulder, golden ichor spilling from the wound. He couldn't help feeling satisfaction at that. Virgil forced himself back to his feet and saw Remus doing the same a bit further away. He had to get that spellbook and destroy it. He shifted his center of gravity to accommodate for the new balance of the sword and stared down Phobos, who was still in his way.

The two engaged in battle again, the ringing of their swords clashing echoing across the clearing. Phobos thrust his sword forward and Virgil dodged to the side, but Phobos was ready for that. He spun around, using the momentum to swing his sword down at Virgil's head, which he just barely managed to block with the middle of the sword. Phobos kept pressing down and Virgil found his arms trembling, not a match for Phobos's godly strength. Time to get creative again. Virgil shifted his feet and transformed the sword again, this time splitting into two separate swords, which left the air under Phobos's sword empty. Virgil swiftly sidestepped the blade as he changed his, so Phobos stumbled past him. He kicked his back while he was still off-balance, sending him to the ground.

"Come on dad, don't be stupid," Virgil chided him. "Just stay down and let me take care of this!"

Virgil was so focused on his father that he had completely forgotten about Eris. She grabbed his face from behind and he cried out as her own powers forced their way into him. He closed his eyes and stumbled back, but Eris went with him. He could feel himself growing weak like his power or energy was being drained from him. 

"Remus do it now!" Virgil heard Eris scream. Oh fuck, she wasn't draining his power, she was transferring it to Remus so he could perform whatever doomsday spell he was planning. Shit!

"Aperire portae ad inferna," Remus began to chant. "Uti in amatum in quantum per ostium. minuo mortale hoc mundo ad tartarus!"

Virgil flipped his swords around in his hands and jabbed them backward, slicing open Eris's thighs. Her grip faltered and he elbowed her in the face to get her to completely let go before dashing a few steps away from her. He'd escaped her hold, but it was too late. Remus had finished his spell. The spell was in Latin, not Greek, so Virgil had no clue what Remus had just done, and he didn't like that at all. He fell into a defensive position and braced himself for whatever was about to go down. But then a moment passed and nothing had happened. For just a second, Virgil wondered if the spell hadn't worked. Then the ground started to shake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roman was pacing just outside of the boundaries of Phobos's aura, where Virgil had left him. He knew Virgil was a perfectly capable hero, and at least he had Roman's sword, but Roman just couldn't help worrying. He couldn't hear or see anything that was going on, and he didn't even know where Virgil was. He hated not knowing if he was okay. He twirled Virgil's sword in his hand as we walked, mildly reassured by the weight of it. He hadn't had to fight any monsters yet, which was definitely good for the monsters. He was not in the mood to be messed with. 

Out of nowhere the ground beneath him began to rumble and shake. He threw out his arms as he nearly lost his balance and just managed to grab onto a tree for stability. What the hell was that? As far as he knew, New York wasn't exactly known for its earthquakes. But if it wasn't an earthquake then it had to be something magical in origin, right? So then what...oh no. Virgil!

Roman pushed himself off the tree despite the still shaking earth and was just about to run in after Virgil, fear be damned, when he heard someone or something crashing through the shrubbery. He raised Tempest, prepared to fight off whatever monster was lurking, when the source of the noise broke through and Roman sighed in relief. It was Virgil; granted he was sans shield and regrettably Roman's sword, but he was alive and Roman much preferred that over some magic weapon. Roman took a step towards him to ask him what happened and if he was okay, but Virgil didn't slow down. Instead he grabbed Roman's hand and dragged him along behind him, so they were both sprinting through the woods back towards camp.

"Talk later, run now," Virgil told him breathlessly. 

Roman caught him as they were hit by a particularly violent tremor, and it took everything in him not to stop them both and ask what was going on. But he trusted Virgil, and he said they should run. So he bit his lip and nodded and the two began to run again, still hand in hand to help each other balance. They had to pause occasionally so they didn't fall, but it wasn't long before they'd cleared the woods and Virgil steered them towards the infirmary on the other side of camp. Roman had been hoping they'd get the chance to rest but apparently not. 

Finally, they stopped outside the infirmary and breathed heavily, hands on their knees. Holy Apollo's Sun Cows, Roman didn't think he'd ever run that much in his entire life. His legs were going to hurt like a son of a bitch in the morning. The tremors were weaker this far from the epicenter but they were still going. What was going on in there that was causing this? Roman turned to Virgil to ask that very question but his boyfriend was already ducking into the infirmary. Roman rolled his eyes and followed him but stopped in his tracks at the number of beds filled. There had been hardly anyone earlier that day, but even now Thomas was depositing a younger camper into an empty bed. Virgil spotted him as well and waved to get his attention. Thomas hurried over, looking between the two of them.

"Thank Zeus you two are alright," Thomas sighed. He led them into Patton's room so they were out of the way of Roman's bustling siblings and Virgil practically jolted when he saw Patton sitting up in bed, frowning in concern.

"Patton? You're awake!" Virgil sounded completely shocked, which made Roman's face draw into an expression mirroring Patton's. 

"Stormcloud, you knew that," Roman said slowly. Virgil blinked at him and shook his head, pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead. "Are you okay?"

"Right, sorry," He muttered. "Remus nailed me in the head with his freaking mace, I must've forgot. What's up with all the beds?"

"It's people who were hurt from debris or falling from the tremors," Thomas explained quickly. "You sure you don't want to see a healer?"

"No," Virgil answered quickly. He cleared his throat. "No, I'll be fine, help everyone else first."

"Well good," Dennis, whom Roman had almost completely forgotten was in the room, spoke up, rising to his feet. Roman saw Virgil shoot Dennis some sort of look as well that Roman couldn't quite translate. He assumed it was some sort of distrust or something since Dennis used to be with Remus and didn't comment on it. "Because I think I speak for everyone here when I ask  _ what the hell _ happened?"

"I might have said it a little nicer," Patton said. "But we are all wondering."

"Remus," Virgil sighed. Roman thought that part was kind of obvious but he let Virgil continue. "I'm pretty sure he opened a rift to Tartarus."

Roman...he didn't know how to respond to that. A rift directly to camp from Tartarus. That gave the monsters an easy path straight to an entire feast of demigods, and any monsters they killed would be right back out the second they regenerated. It would be an endless barrage of creatures. 

"It would be a war." Logan was the first to speak. "Not a skirmish or fight or battle like we've fought before. This is a war. And we have nowhere to go."

"So what do we do?" Patton asked quietly. The question hung over the room like a thunderstorm, weighing them down like a lead weight.

"The only thing we can do," Thomas declared. "We fight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Virgil fell as tremors managed to throw him right off his feet and to the ground. He got to his hands and knees but immediately dove to the side as there was a loud crack above him and a large tree branch crashed down where he had just been. He had to get out of there, yesterday. Every time he tried to climb to his feet though he was knocked back off balance by the quaking. It was so strong, he had to have been right at the epicenter. He knew he should at least try to get away but he found himself staring, frozen in horror at the center of the clearing. 

It started with the pile of boulders that made up Zeus's Fist beginning to fall apart and destabilize. Then they began to fall and Virgil raised an arm to shield himself but none of them hit him. Instead, they seemed to fall inward. They disappeared one by one until Virgil saw it. It was like a crevice in the ground that definitely hadn’t been there before. As he watched, it slowly spread outward, getting bigger and bigger. Holy shit, what had Remus done? It didn’t look too bad, just a chasm. Then he began to feel it. He could literally feel the power coming from the crevice like pure evil was at the bottom of it. He used a nearby tree to hoist himself to his feet, but he couldn’t bring himself to run, not yet. He had to know first, had to see what it was. He stumbled toward it as carefully as he could to avoid falling  _ into  _ the pit and peeked over the edge. 

Virgil’s breath caught in his throat. Oh, gods. That wasn’t...it couldn’t be. But he couldn’t deny it no matter how he tried. He could barely see it through the thick clouds, but he could see monsters scrabbling across the ground far below him and winged daemons in the sky. Cutting through it all was a river of fire, lighting up the horrible place with a red glow. It was Tartarus. Remus had opened a rift into Tartarus. 

Virgil threw himself backward just in time, otherwise, the next tremor would have thrown him into Tartarus and that was not what he considered an enjoyable pastime. He had to go. He had to get back to Roman and they had to get to Camp, fast. So Virgil turned, and he ran. He shifted the two swords into the double-bladed one again, using it to balance and cut down anything that got in his way. He was sure the dryads could find it in their hearts to forgive him. He skidded to a stop easier now that the tremors had begun to subside and he wasn't as close to the rift anymore. He looked around frantically but couldn’t find a glimpse of Roman anywhere. This was where he’d left him, he knew it was, so where was he? There was no sign of him anywhere!

“ROMAN!” Virgil screamed to be heard over the shifting earth. Wait, those plants. They looked trampled as if someone had run through them. Of course, Roman must have run back to camp to get help from Heather once the tremors started. That was the only explanation other than-

No, that was it.

So Virgil took off again, sprinting through the woods and using Roman’s sword to vault over a tree stump he didn’t have time to go around. He had to get back, he had to tell everyone what happened and find Roman to make sure he was okay. It passed in a blur and the next thing he knew he was shoving his way through healers to get to Patton’s room. He hoped that Roman had gone there to find someone or see Patton or something because he didn’t know where else to look. He entered the room in a rush, eyes scanning and landing on Roman almost instantly.

“Roman, there you are,” Virgil breathed. “I’m so glad you’re okay, I-”

He was cut off by Roman raising Tempest, Virgil’s own sword, and pressing the tip against Virgil’s throat. Virgil dropped Roman’s sword by instinct and held his hands up in surrender. He looked around the room, hoping someone would say something but no one did. They just looked at him with some sort of cold, detached anger, that honestly made him want to cry. Then his eyes landed on...himself? But that didn’t make sense! The only person who would be able to impersonate him was Dennis, and Virgil could see him with his arm in front of Patton protectively like he thought Virgil was going to attack him. None of the other Apate kids had Mimicry though!

“Hello mother,” Dennis said cooly.

That’s when it all clicked. It wasn’t just Remus, Eris, and Phobos. Apate was involved, and now they had a monster army that he was sure Remus could control with that spellbook. This was a war, and it had already started.

The Siege had begun.


	23. This Is Where We Come Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Logan doesn’t realize it’s his birthday and is confused about why everyone is being nice to him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't really an Arc Fic and is really just something I wrote for Logan's birthday in November.  
> Title is taken from Where We Come Alive by Ruelle

“What are you doing?”

Patton pulled away from where he’d been clinging to Logan’s arm just enough to look up at him with a bit of a pout on his face. He looked as confused as Logan felt and maybe even a bit hurt, which only confused him more. “What do you mean, sweetheart?”

“You’ve even more affectionate than usual,” Logan started. Patton began to pull away completely, the corners of his mouth turned down before Logan rushed to rectify it. “Not that that is a bad thing, but it is a bit out of the ordinary. Furthermore, a large number of people have been overly nice to me today, some even stopping to say congratulations, but I’m mystified but what they could be congratulating me for. I do not believe I’ve done anything extraordinary recently. Even Roman and Virgil came to Camp for the weekend and have been adamant about spending time with me. Is there some holiday I am forgetting? I’m not sure how I could have, I have every holiday marked in my planner which I check every morning-”

“Logan, you’re rambling,” Virgil stopped him abruptly, his signature amused smirk accompanying a raised eyebrow.

“Come on Specs, surely you’re not actually forgetting.” Roman rolled his eyes. Logan just shrugged at him. Logan wasn’t the type to play practical jokes, especially not when it came to information. The way everyone was talking he felt as though he should know but the knowledge was effectively alluding him.

“It’s November 3rd?” Patton said slowly, but it was phrased like a question. No, a prompt, he was prompting him. Was that date supposed to mean something to him? Perhaps it was some sort of anniversary he was forgetting? He shook his head and Patton stared at him for a moment, opening and closing his mouth like he wanted to say something but he wasn’t quite sure what yet. “Logan, it’s your birthday.”

“My birthday?” Logan supposed it was. He just didn’t put much value in it and so the thought had never occurred to him. It was just yet another meaningless fact in his mind that he rarely used and so was gathering dust in some abandoned corner of his brain. “Oh. I don’t understand how that explains all of the aforementioned occurrences, however. They could be seen as some sort of small celebration but I don’t see what there is to celebrate.”

“What is there to celebrate?!” Roman exclaimed. Okay now he was looking at him like he was stupid, something Logan very much did not appreciate. Birthdays were never a big deal in his family, so he wasn’t sure why they would be now. What could he possibly be missing that would evoke such a reaction? “Logan we are literally hunted down by monsters every day of our lives just because we exist. Leaving the camp puts our lives at risk and even in camp, there are monsters in the woods. Our lives could be over at literally any moment, so surviving another year is definitely something to celebrate.”

“But don’t we have other things to worry about at the moment?” Logan argued. “Remus-”

“Look, you never know what could happen tomorrow or in a week or even in an hour.” Virgil shrugged and reached over to take Roman’s hand without even thinking about it. “You have to enjoy and celebrate what you have while you have it.”

“I suppose you do have a point,” Logan sighed. Patton squealed in delight and once again attached himself to Logan’s arm. Logan sighed again but this time in exasperated amusement. “But I refuse to take part in any of the traditional over-the-top birthday activities.”

“So no throwing you in the canoe lake?” Virgil clarified, laughing at Logan’s appalled expression. “Kidding, L.”

“I don’t even want an actual party,” Logan said.

“But…cake,” Roman whined. He looked so disappointed that Virgil patted his hair lightly.

“How about we have some cake at our spot on the beach, just the four of us?” Patton suggested. “A little bit of a celebration but not some crazy party. Just celebrating with your friends that you all made it another year.”

“I can agree to that,” Logan smiled. “I can definitely agree with that.”


	24. Prompt: “You’re freezing.” “I’m fine.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman decided to spontaneously walk over to Virgil’s apartment. Which is almost an hour away. And it’s FREEZING outside.

Virgil didn’t like the unpredictability in his life. He was sick of surprises, basically, especially since they usually tried to kill him. This certainly wasn’t the worst surprise he’d ever gotten, he’d admit that. But he was just sick of not knowing.

He was thankfully home alone when he heard a knock at the door and immediately he grabbed one of the daggers he had stashed around the house in case of emergency. This one, in particular, was strapped under the dining table, which is where he had been sitting doing homework. It was winter break, yeah, but he had some essays to write up still and it was too cold to do anything so he’d figured he might as well finish them. Well until someone showed up at the door, that is.

Maybe he was being overly cautious, but he was home alone and it was too cold for any rational person to be wandering about, so he couldn’t think of any reason a mortal would be at his door. He slowly opened the door until he saw a shivering but smiling Roman at his door. His face was bright red from the wind and cold and his hands were shoved in the pockets of his jacket. The fool wasn’t even wearing a coat, Virgil realized, his eyes wide. He stood with the door partially open just staring at his boyfriend, not sure how to react, which apparently amused Roman as the shorter boy gave a small chuckle. The shakiness in the sound caused by Roman’s shivering seemed to snap Virgil out of his shock.

“What in the deepest depths of Tartarus are you doing, Roman?” Virgil exclaimed. He opened the door the rest of the way and yanked Roman inside, closing the door behind them to block out the freezing cold wind outside.

“You s-said your f-f-folks weren’t hom-me for the next few d-days, right?” Roman asked instead of answering.

“Yes, but that wasn’t my question.” Virgil was getting worried by Roman’s violent shaking and put his hands on the other boy’s biceps, intending to rub some warmth into him, but yanked his hands back with a yelp of surprise. “Di immortales Roman, you’re _freezing_.”

“I’m f-f-fine,” Roman said, very unconvincingly.

Virgil shoved him onto the couch, the other boy landing with a soft ‘oof’, and made a beeline for the closet next to his bedroom which contained all the extra towels and blankets. He shook his head in exasperation and a sigh escaped his mouth. ‘Fine my ass’ Virgil thought. He carried a few soft blankets into the living room and began to wrap Roman up in them, smacking him upside the head when he tried to protest. He laid the back of his hand against Roman’s cheek to feel his skin and what the FUCK? How was he so cold? Surely he just had to walk from the nearest bus stop or got a cab or something. Even without a coat, he shouldn’t be this cold from that short walk. Unless the walk wasn’t short. Virgil glared at Roman and he seemed to shrink slightly into the blankets.

“Roman Augustus Prince,” Virgil sighed. Roman winced at his full name. “Did you walk all the way to my apartment?”

“M-maybe?”

Virgil groaned and put his face in his hands. Why was his boyfriend an idiot? Seriously, Aphrodite, what had he done to deserve falling in love with an absolute moron? “Roman you live on the Upper East Side. I live in midtown! That walk is almost an hour, and that's without all the ice and snow!”

“I kn-ow.” Roman took a shaky breath as he continued to shiver. The shivering had at least gone down, but Virgil still scooted himself under the blankets and pulled Roman into him, trying to warm him up with his body heat. “I c-couldn’t think of an-anywhere e-else to g-go.”

“What do you mean?” Virgil asked, trying to be patient with him. Roman might be reckless and have no sense of self-preservation, but he actually wasn’t _entirely_ stupid. He wouldn’t have walked over an hour through this weather without a reason. At least he better not have, or Virgil was going to kick his ass the second he warmed up.

“I c-couldn’t stay-ay in that h-house any l-longer,” Roman muttered and buried his face in Virgil’s hoodie so he wouldn’t have to look at him.

Oh, _duh_. Now Virgil just felt like an idiot. Roman was stuck living with Remus constantly whenever they weren’t at Camp. Normally that’d be tolerable during school because he wouldn’t be with him all day, but during winter break Roman and Remus would be forced to be near each other at all times. Gods, Virgil couldn’t even imagine. He sighed and kissed the top of Roman’s head, before getting up. He made his way into the kitchen to get started on some hot chocolate for Roman. He couldn’t be mad at him now. Well okay, he was a little irritated Roman hadn’t just called a cab, but if Remus had been irritating him incessantly Virgil wouldn’t be in his right mind either.

After a few minutes, he returned with two mugs, one for Roman and one for himself because why not? He handed over the mug to Roman who wrapped his cold hands around the warm ceramic gratefully. After cuddling back in under the blankets Virgil grabbed the remote and turned on Disney+, sure that Hercules would cheer Roman up. His homework could wait.


	25. Prompt: “How very romantic of you.” “I try my best, sweetheart.”

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Virgil had insisted he wasn’t going to sick from caring for Roman. Well, guess what happened?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heads up, this is a continuation from the last chapter.

“‘I won't get sick Roman’ you said,” Roman said sarcastically as he reentered Virgil’s bedroom. He held a steaming cup of tea in his hands which he handed to Virgil, who took it gingerly. The boy in question was currently sitting in bed under the blankets, shadows under his eyes even without the eyeshadow. “'I’ll be fine’ you said.”

After Roman’s walk through the freezing cold, he had managed to get sick, which surprised literally no one. Virgil had gone to cuddle with him and keep him comfortable, but Roman had warned him he’d probably get sick.

Virgil obviously didn’t listen, considering the constant sniffles and stuffy throat. So when he got sick a few days later and his parents were still out of town, Roman had to come over every day to take care of him. Roman didn’t mind taking care of him, he was too much of a romantic to be upset about it, but he was a little irritated that Virgil had gotten sick doing something Roman had warned him about.

Virgil stuck his tongue out at his boyfriend and took a careful sip of his tea, sighing happily as the liquid slightly soothed his sore throat.

“This tea is my boyfriend now,” Virgil grumbled, but his smirk made it obvious he wasn’t actually angry.

Roman gasped dramatically and pressed his hand against his heart as if deeply wounded. He grabbed his golden sword from where it was propped against the wall next to the bedroom door and pointed it threateningly at the mug.

“That’s it you despicable fiend,” Roman exclaimed. “I shall challenge you to a duel for Virgil’s hand!”

“How very romantic of you, Your Highness,” Virgil chuckled.

“I try my best, sweetheart.”

Roman grinned and put his sword back before he accidentally hit something in the small space. He climbed into the bed next to Virgil, not actually touching him as to not turn this into some vicious cycle. He glared at the mug accusingly and Virgil laughed, shaking his head in fond exasperation. The grin on Roman’s face brightened at the sound and he decided to just sit and watch his boyfriend for a while. It was a pastime he would never grow tired of.


End file.
